PR 
2848 
Jl2K5" 


Sonnets.  Ed.  by 
Rolfe. 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  Iasl 
date  stamped  below 

JJW  5     f93d 
MAY  2  0  1935 
JUN  1  0  193J, 
4193? 


coo.  Ar 


in 


William  Herbert 


SHAKESPEARE'S  SONNETS 


EDITED,  WITH   NOTES 
BY 

WILLIAM    J.    ROLFE,   Litt.D. 

FORMERLY   HEAD   MASTER   OF  THE   HIGH   SCHOOL, 
CAMBRIDGE,   MASS. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK-:- CINCINNATI-:- CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


.  ;  i/  ,7 


Copyright,  18S3  and  1S9S,  bv 
HARPER   S:    BROTHERS. 

COPYRIGHT,    1905,    BY 

WILLIAM    J.    ROl.FE. 

Copyright,  1911,  by 
JOHN    C.    ROLFE. 

SONNETS 
W.  P.     a 


PREFACE 

This  is  practically  a  new  book,  the  critical  matter 
in  my  former  edition  of  the  Sonnets  (published  in  1883, 
and  somewhat  revised  and  enlarged  in  subsequent  years) 
having  been  mostly  rewritten  and  considerably  aug- 
mented. So  far  as  I  am  aware,  it  is  the  first  thoroughly 
annotated  edition  that  has  appeared  in  this  country. 
The  American  editors  of  Shakespeare's  works,  like  the 
great  majority  of  those  in  England,  have  given  less 
attention  to  the  poems  than  to  the  plays  ;  and  the  only 
separate  English  editions  of  the  Sonnets  (including  both 
text  and  commentary)  worth  mentioning  are  those  of 
Dowden,  Tyler,  and  Wyndham  (in  his  Poems  of  Shake- 
speare). Many  books  about  the  Sonnets  have  been  pub- 
lished on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  the  majority  of 
which,  to  my  thinking,  are  chiefly  notable  for  their 
fanciful  theories  of  the  origin  and  significance  of  the 
poems.  Eor  a  full  bibliography  of  these  books,  and 
also  of  the  German  literature  of  the  subject  (down  to 
1881,  when  it  appeared),  Dowden 's  larger  edition  may 
be  consulted.  For  the  critical  student,  as  I  said  in  my 
former  edition,  his  careful  resume  answers  a  double 
purpose:  as  a  bibliography,  directing  him  to  the  books 
and  papers  on  the  subject,  if  he  is  moved  to  read  any 
or  all  of  them  ;  and  as  a  compact  and  convenient  sub- 
stitute for  these  books  and  papers,  if  he  wants  to  know 
their  gist  and  substance  without  the  drudgery  of  wading 
through  them.  I  doubt  not  that  the  majority  of  stu- 
dents will  be  thankful  that  Dowden  has  relieved  them 
of  the  drudgery  by  compressing  manv  a  dull  volume  or 
magazine  article  into  a  page  or  a  paragraph. 

My  indebtedness  to  Dowden,  Tyler,  and  Wyndham 
is  duly  acknowledged  in  the  introduction  and  the  notes. 
My  own  work  must  pass  for  what  it  may  seem  to  be 
worth.     A  few  questions,  at   least,   1    feel   sure   that    ! 

5 


6  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

have  definitely  settled  :  for  instance,  that  Shakespeare 
could  not  have  supervised  or  authorized  the  publication 
of  the  Sonnets  ;  and  that  the  date  (and  consequently  the 
interpretation)  of  Sonnet  144  has  been  misunderstood 
by  every  former  editor  and  commentator.  Whether  I 
have  proved  that  the  order  of  the  first  series  (1-126)  is 
not  strictly  chronological,  and  that  some  of  them  were 
addressed  to  a  woman,  the  reader  must  decide  for  him- 
self ;  and  also  whether  he  will  endorse  my  criticisms  of 
Mr.  Sidney  Lee's  views  concerning  the  identity  of  "  Mr. 
W.  H."  and  of  the  "rival  poet,"  and  sundry  minor 
questions. 

I  have  given  special  attention  to  Mr.  Lee's  theories 
of  the  Sonnets,  partly  because  he  has  developed  and 
defended  them  at  such  length  in  his  Life  of  Shakespeare 
(quite  out  of  proportion  to  the  space  allotted  to  other 
controverted  questions  of  importance),  and  partly  be- 
cause his  book  is,  in  most  other  respects,  so  scholarly 
and  authoritative.  As  in  all  cases  where  I  disagree 
with  other  authors,  I  have  endeavoured  to  state  Mr. 
Lee's  opinions  and  arguments  fairly  —  generally  in  his 
own  words  —  and  as  fully  as  the  space  at  my  command 
would  permit. 

In  the  partial  revision  of  my  former  edition  (1890)  I 
was  inclined,  with  many  careful  critics,  to  accept  Mr. 
Tyler's  ingenious  and  plausible  identification  of  the 
"dark  lady"  with  Mary  Fitton  ;  and  the  more  so  after 
critical  friends  who  had  visited  Gawsworth  to  examine 
the  statue  of  Mary  on  the  family  monument,  had  assured 
me  that  the  remnants  of  paint  on  the  stone  indicated 
that  she  was  really  a  "  dark  lady,"  as  Tyler  had  asserted. 
But  her  portraits  (see  p.  32  below)  prove  that  she  was 
a  blonde  rather  than  a  brunette,  and  the  colours  on  the 
statue,  if  originally  true  to  nature,  must  have  darkened 
with  the  lapse  of  centuries. 


CONTENTS 


Introduction  to  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 
The  Early  Editions. 
Their  History  and  Interpretation     . 

I.   Was  the  Edition  of  1609  authorized  or 

by  Shakespeare  ?      . 
II.   Are  the  Sonnets  Autobiographical  ? 

III.  To  whom  is  the   Dedication  addresse 

does  it  Mean  ? 

IV.  Are  All  the  Sonnets  addressed  to  Two 
V.   Concerning  the  Order  of  the  Sonnets 

VI.    Who  was  "  Mr.  W.  II."?      . 
VII.   The  Date  of  the  Sonnets 
VIII.    Who  was  the  "  Rival  Poet"  ? 
IX.    Other  Theories  of  the  Sonnets 
X.    Conclusions 

Shakespeare's  Sonnets        .... 

Notes 

Appendix  : 

The  Sonnets  and  the  Haconian  Theory    . 
Was  Barnabe  Barnes  the  "  Rival  I'oet  "  ? 

Index  of  Words  and  Phrases  Explained 

7 


supervised 

,  and  what 
Persons  ? 


PAGE 

9 

9 

II 


13 

19 

22 

25 
29 

37 
43 
43 

44 

47 
141 

250 
256 

265 


Henry  Wriotheslev 


..-<??*• 


Love 


INTRODUCTION    TO    SHAKESPEARE'S 
SONNETS 


The  Early  Editions 

The  Sonnets  were  first   published   in   1609,  with  the 
following  title-page  (as  given  in  the  fac-simile  of  1870): 

SHAKE-SPEARES  !  Sonnkts.  |  Xeuer    before   Im- 
printed. I  at  London  |   By    G.   Eld  for    T.  7*.  and  arc 
to  be  solde  by  William  Asply.  \  1609. 

9 


io  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

In  some  copies  the  latter  part  of  the  imprint  reads  : 
"  to  be  solde  by  John  Wright,  dwelling  |  at  Christ 
Church  gate.  |  1609." 

At  the  end  of  the  volume  A  Lover's  Complaint  was 
printed. 

In  1640  the  Sonnets  (except  Nos.  18,  19,  43,  56,  75, 
76,  96,  and  126),  rearranged  under  various  titles,  with 
the  pieces  in  The  Passionate  Pilgrim,  A  Lover's  Com- 
plaint, The  Phoenix  and  the  Turtle,  the  lines  "  Why 
should  this  a  desert  be,"  etc.  (A.  Y.  L.  iii.  2.  133  fol.), 
"  Take,  O  take  those  lips  away,"  etc.  (M.  for  M.  iv.  1. 
1  fol.),  and  sundry  translations  from  Ovid,  evidently 
not  Shakespeare's,  were  published  with  the  following 
title  : 

POEMS  :  I  Written  |  by  |  W7il.  Shake-speare.  | 
Gent,  j  Printed  at  London  by  Tho.  Cotes,  and  are  |  to 
be  sold  by  Lohn  Benson,  dwelling  in  |  Sf  Dunstans 
Church-yard.   1640. 

There  is  an  introductory  address  "  To  the  Reader  *' 
by  Benson,  in  which  he  asserts  that  the  poems  are  "  of 
the  same  purity  the  Authour  himselfe  then  living 
avouched,"  and  that  they  will  be  found  "  seren,  cleere 
and  eligantly  plaine."  He  adds  that  by  bringing  them 
"  to  the  perfect  view  of  all  men  "  he  is  "  glad  to  be  ser- 
viceable for  the  continuance  of  glory  to  the  deserved 
Author." 

The  order  of  the  poems  in  this  volume  is  followed  in 
the  editions  of  Giklon  (1710)  and  of  Sewell  (1725  and 
1728);  also    in   those  published    by  Ewing  (177 1)  and 


Introduction  II 

Evans  (1775).  In  all  these  editions  the  sonnets  men- 
tioned above  (18,  19,  etc.)  are  omitted,  and  138  and  144 
are  given  in  the  form  in  which  they  appear  in  The 
Passionate  Pilgrim. 

The  first  complete  reprint  of  the  Sonnets,  after  the 
edition  of  1609,  appears  to  have  been  in  the  collected 
edition  of  Shakespeare's  Poems,  published  by  Lintott 
in    1709. 

The  earliest  known  reference  to  the  Sonnets  is  in  the 
Palladis  Tamia  of  Meres,  who  speaks  of  them  as  "  his 
sugred  Sonnets  among  his  priuate  friends."  This  was 
in  1598,  and  the  next  year  two  of  them  (138  and  144) 
were  printed  in  The  Passionate  Pilgrim.  We  do  not 
know  that  any  of  the  others  were  published  before 
1609. 

Their  History  and  Interpretation 

There  are  many  questions  concerning  the  history 
and  intei  pretation  of  the  Sonnets  over  which  editors, 
commentators,  and  critics  have  wrangled,  and  over  some 
of  which  they  will  doubtless  continue  to  wrangle  to  the 
last  syllable  of  recorded  time. 

I.  Was  the  Edition  ok  1609  authorized  or  super- 
vised by  Shakespeare  ?  —  Some  editors  have  answered 
the  question  in  the  negative,  but  the  reasons  given  for 
the  decision  are  far  from  conclusive.  The  fact  that  the 
dedication  is  the  publisher's,  not  the  author's,  has,  for 
instance,  been  cited  ;  but  there  are  those  who  tell  us 
that  the  poet,  for  certain  reasons,  chose  to  hide  behind 


12  ShakesDeare's  Sonnets 

Master  Thorpe.  Dowden,  who  summarizes  the  entire 
literature  of  the  subject  in  the  introduction  to  his  larger 
edition  of  the  Sonnets,  says  "  there  is  reason  to  believe  " 
that  the  edition  of  1609  had  "neither  the  superintend- 
ence nor  the  consent  of  the  author ;  "  but  the  only 
reason  he  gives  for  this  opinion  —  and  presumably  the 
best  he  could  offer  —  is  that  the  book,  "though  not 
carelessly  printed,  is  far  less  accurate  than  the  Venus 
and  Adonis.'"  That  poem  and  the  Lucrece  are  the  only 
works  of  Shakespeare  that  he  himself  appears  to  have 
seen  through  the  press.  Both  are  carefully  printed  for 
that  day,  and  the  Lucrece  at  least,  as  the  variations  in 
copies  of  the  first  edition  clearly  prove,  was  corrected 
by  the  author  while  on  the  press.  Both,  moreover,  con- 
tain formal  dedications  signed  with  his  name. 

The  1609  edition  of  the  Sonnets,  on  the  other  hand, 
abounds  in  errors  of  the  type,  most  of  which  Shakespeare 
could  not  have  failed  to  detect  if  he  had  supervised  the 
printing.  He  was  pretty  certainly  in  London  in  1609, 
and  if  he  allowed  these  "  sugred  sonnets  "  to  be  printed 
at  all,  he  would  surely  have  seen  that  they  were  printed 
well. 

The  question,  however,  is  definitely  settled  (as  I  was 
the  first  to  point  out)  by  one  little  peculiarity  in  the 
printing  of  the  126th  Sonnet,  if  sonnet  it  may  be  called. 
It  has  only  twelve  lines,  and  Thorpe  (or  his  editor), 
assuming  that  a  couplet  had  been  lost,  completed  the 
normal  fourteen  lines  by  two  blank  ones  enclosed  in 
marks  of  parenthesis  ;  thus  :  — 


Introduction  13 

(  ) 

(  ) 

Shakespeare  could  not  have  done  this,  and  Thorpe 
would  not  have  done  it  if  he  had  been  in  communication 
with  Shakespeare.  In  that  case  he  would  have  asked 
the  poet  for  the  couplet  he  supposed  to  be  missing,  and 
would  have  been  told  that  nothing  was  missing.  The 
piece  is  not  an  imperfect  sonnet  of  Shakespeare's  pat- 
tern, but  is  made  up  of  six  rhymed  couplets,  and  the 
sense  is  apparently  complete. 

There  is  another  fact  that  may  have  a  bearing  upon 
this  question.  The  final  couplet  of  the  96th  Sonnet  is 
the  same  as  that  of  the  36th.  The  lines  do  not  fit  the 
later  poem  as  well  as  they  do  the  earlier  one.  Possibly, 
as  Dowden  suggests,  the  manuscript  of  the  96th  may 
have  been  imperfect,  and  Thorpe,  or  his  editor,  filled  it 
out  as  well  as  he  could  with  a  couplet  from  another 
Sonnet.  Of  course  he  would  not  have  done  this  if  the 
book  had  been  printed  with  the  author's  knowledge  or 
consent. 

If  Shakespeare  had  nothing  to  do,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, with  the  publication  of  the  Sonnets,  the  fact  has 
some  important  bearings,  as  we  shall  see  further  on. 

II.  Are  the  Sonnets  Autobiographical? — Are 
the  Sonnets,  wholly  or  in  part,  autobiographical,  or  are 
they  merely  "  poetical  exercises  "  dealing  with  imaginary 
persons  and  experiences  ?  This  is  the  question  to 
which  all  others  relating  to  the  poems  are  secondary 
and  subordinate. 


14  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

For  myself,  I  firmly  believe  that  the  great  majority  of 
the  Sonnets,  to  quote  what  Wordsworth  says  of  them, 
"  express  Shakespeare's  own  feelings  in  his  own  per- 
son ;  "  or,  as  he  says  in  his  sonnet  on  the  sonnet,  "  with 
this  same  key  Shakespeare  unlocked  his  heart."  Brown- 
ing, quoting  this,  asks  :  "  Did  Shakespeare  ?  If  so,  the 
less  Shakespeare  he !  "  to  which  Swinburne  replies, 
"  No  whit  the  less  like  Shakespeare,  but  undoubtedly 
the  less  like  Browning." 

The  theory  that  the  Sonnets  are  mere  exercises  of 
fancy,  "  the  free  outcome  of  a  poetic  imagination,"  as 
Delius  phrases  it,  is  easy  and  specious  at  first,  but  lands 
us  at  last  among  worse  perplexities  than  it  evades. 
That  Shakespeare,  for  example,  should  write  seventeen 
sonnets  urging  a  young  man  to  marry  and  perpetuate 
his  family  is  strange  enough,  but  that  he  should  select 
such  a  theme  as  the  fictitious  basis  for  seventeen  sonnets 
is  stranger  yet ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  story 
or  stories  apparently  underlying  other  of  the  poems. 
Some  critics,  indeed,  who  take  them  to  be  thus  artifi- 
cially inspired,  have  been  compelled  to  regard  them  as 
"  satirical  "  —  intended  to  ridicule  the  sonneteers  of  the 
time,  especially  Drayton  and  Sir  John  Davies  of  Here- 
ford. Others,  like  Professor  Minto,  who  believe  the 
first  126  to  be  personal,  regard  the  rest  as  "  exercises  of 
skill,  undertaken  in  a  spirit  of  wanton  defiance  and 
derision  of  commonplace."  The  poems,  to  quote  Dow- 
den,  "  are  in  the  taste  of  the  time  ;  less  extravagant  and 
less  full  of  conceits  than  many  other  Elizabethan  collec 


Introduction  15 

tions,  more  distinguished  by  exquisite  imagination  and 
all  that  betokens  genuine  feeling.  .  .  .  All  that  is 
quaint  or  contorted  or  '  conceited  '  in  them  can  be 
paralleled  from  passages  of  early  plays  of  Shakespeare, 
such  as  Romeo  and  Juliet,  and  the  Two  Gentlemen  of 
Verona,  where  assuredly  no  satirical  intention  is  dis- 
coverable." 

If  the  Sonnets  were  mostly  written  before  1598  when 
Meres  refers  to  them,  or  1599  when  Jaggard  printed 
two  of  them,  or  in  1 593  and  1 594,  as  Sidney  Lee  assumes, 
and  if  most  of  them,  as  the  same  critic  believes,  were 
"  little  more  than  professional  trials  of  skill,  often  of 
superlative  merit,  to  which  the  poet  deemed  himself 
challenged  by  the  efforts  of  contemporary  practitioners," 
it  is  passing  strange  that  Shakespeare  should  not  have 
published  them  ten  or  fifteen  years  before  they  were 
brought  out  by  the  pirate  Thorpe.  He  must  have 
written  them  fdjc  publication  if  that  was  their  character, 
and  the  extraordinary  popularity  of  his  earlier  poems 
would  have  JBured  them  a  favourable  reception  with 
the  public,  jjjplis  fellow-townsman  and  friend,  Richard 
Field,  who^ad  published  the  Venus  and  Adonis  in  1593 
and  the  Lucrece  in  1594,  and  who  must  have  known  of 
the  circulation  of  the  sonnets  in  manuscript,  would  have 
urged  him  to  publish  them  ;  or,  if  the  author  had  de- 
clined to  have  them  printed,  some  pirate,  like  Jaggard  or 
Thorpe,  would  have  done  it  long  before  1609.  Mr.  Lee 
tells  us  that  Sidney,  Watson.  Daniel,  and  Constable  cir- 
culated their  sonnets  for  a  time  in  manuscript,  but  he 


1 6  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

tells  us  also  that  the  pirates  generally  got  hold  of  them 
and  published  them  within  a  few  years  if  the  authors  did 
not  do  it.  But  the  history  of  The  Passionate  Pilgrim 
shows  that  it  was  not  so  easy  to  obtain  copies  of  Shakes- 
peare's sonnets  for  publication.  It  was  the  success  of 
Venus  and  Adonis  and  Lucrece  (the  fourth  edition  of  the 
former  being  issued  in  1599,  and  the  second  of  the 
latter  in  1598)  which  prompted  Jaggard  to  compile 
The  Passionate  Pilgrim  in  1599  ;  and  it  is  a  significant 
fact  that  he  was  able  to  rake  together  only  ten  poems 
which  can  possibly  be  Shakespeare's,  and  three  of  these 
were  from  Love's  Labour  V  Lost,  which  had  been  pub- 
lished in  1598.  To  these  ten  pieces  he  added  ten  others 
(eleven,  as  ordinarily  printed)  which  he  impudently 
called  Shakespeare's,  though  we  know  that  most  of  them 
were  stolen  and  can  trace  some  of  them  to  the  authors. 
His  book  bears  evidence  in  its  very  make-up  that  he 
was  hard  pushed  to  fill  the  pages  and  give  the  pur- 
chaser a  tolerable  sixpence-worth.  The  matter  is 
printed  on  but  one  side  of  the  leaf,  and  is  further  spun 
out  by  putting  a  head-piece  and  tail-piece  on  every 
page,  so  that  a  dozen  lines  of  text  sandwiched  between 
these  convenient  pictorial  devices  make  as  fair  a  show 
as  double  the  quantity  would  ordinarily  present. 

Note,  however,  that,  with  all  his  pickings  and  steal- 
ings, Jaggard  managed  to  secure  but  two  of  the  sonnets, 
though  a  considerable  number  of  them  were  probably 
in  existence  among  the  author's  "  private  friends,"  as? 
Meres  expressed   it  a  year  before.     The    pirate   New- 


Introduction  17 

man,  in  1591,  was  able  to  print  one  hundred  and  eight 
sonnets  by  Sidney  which  had  been  circulated  in  manu- 
script, and  to  add  to  them  twenty-eight  by  Daniel  with- 
out the  author's  knowledge ;  and  sonnets  by  Watson 
and  Constable,  as  Mr.  Lee  tells  us,  were  similarly  circu- 
lated and  pirated.  How,  then,  are  we  to  explain  the 
fact  that  Jaggard  could  obtain  only  two  of  Shakespeare's 
sonnets,  five  years  or  more  after  they  had  been  circulat- 
ing among  his  friends  ?  Is  it  not  evident  that  the 
poems  must  have  been  carefully  guarded  by  these 
friends  on  account  of  their  personal  and  private 
character  ?  A  dozen  more  of  those  sonnets  would  have 
filled  out  Jaggard's  "  larcenous  bundle  of  verse,''  and 
have  obviated  the  necessity  of  pilfering  from  Barnfield, 
Griffin,  Marlowe,  and  the  rest;  but  at  the  time  they 
were  in  such  close  confidential  keeping  that  he  could 
get  no  copies  of  them.  In  the  course  of  years  they 
were  shown  to  a  larger  and  larger  number  of  "  private 
friends,"  and  with  the  multiplication  of  copies  the 
chances  of  their  getting  outside  of  that  confidential 
circle  were  proportionally  increased.  We  need  not  be 
surprised,  then,  that  a  decade  later  somebody  had  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  copies  of  them  all,  and  sold  the 
collection  to  Thorpe. 

Even  if  we  suppose  that  the  Sonnets  had  been  imper- 
sonal, and  that  Shakespeare  for  some  reason  that  we 
cannot  guess  had  wished  to  withhold  them  from  the 
press,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  could  not  have  done  it  in 
that  dav  of  imperfect  copvright  restrictions.     Nothing 

SHAKES!  1   ',  I  E'S    SONNETS  —  2 


1 8  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

could  have  kept  a  hundred  and  fifty  poems  by  so  popu- 
lar an  author  out  of  print  if  there  had  not  been  strong 
personal  reasons  for  maintaining  their  privacy.  At 
least  seven  editions  of  the  Venus  and  Adonis  and  four 
of  the  Lucrece  appeared  before  Thorpe  was  able  to 
secure  "  copy  "  for  his  edition  of  the  Sonnets. 

If,  as  Mr.  Lee  asserts,  Southampton  was  the  patron 
to  whom  twenty  that  may  be  called  "  dedicatory  "  son- 
nets (23,  26,  32,  37,  38,  69,  77-86,  100,  101,  103,  and 
106)  are  addressed,  it  is  all  the  more  remarkable  that 
Shakespeare  should  not  have  published  them,  or,  if  he 
hesitated  to  do  it,  that  his  noble  patron  should  not  have 
urged  it.  He  had  already  dedicated  both  the  Venus 
and  Adonis  and  the  Lucrece  to  Southampton  ;  and  Mr. 
Lee  says  that  "  three  of  the  twenty  dedicatory  sonnets 
[26,  32,  38]  merely  translate  into  the  language  of  poetry 
the  expressions  of  devotion  which  had  already  done 
duty  in  the  dedicatory  epistle  in  verse  that  precedes 
Lucrece.'1''  Other  sonnet-sequences  of  the  time  (includ- 
ing the  four  mentioned  by  Mr.  Lee  as  pirated  while 
circulated  in  manuscript,  except  Sidney's,  which  were 
not  thus  published  until  after  his  death)  were  brought 
out  by  their  authors,  with  dedications  to  noble  lords  or 
ladies.  Shakespeare's  Sonnets,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
are  the  only  exception  to  the  rule. 

Mr.  Lee  himself  admits  that  "  at  a  first  glance  a  far 
larger  proportion  of  Shakespeare's  sonnets  give  the 
reader  the  illusion  of  personal  confessions  than  those 
of  any  contemporary;"    and   elsewhere  he   recognizes 


Introduction  19 

in  them  more  "  intensity  "  than  appears  in  the  earlier 
poems  except  in  "occasional  utterances"  of  Lucrece ; 
but,  for  all  that,  he  would  have  us  believe  that  they  are 
not  personal,  and  that  their  "  superior  and  more  evenly 
sustained  energy  is  to  be  attributed,  not  to  the  acces- 
sion of  power  that  comes  with  increase  of  years,  but  to 
the  innate  principles  of  the  poetic  form,  and  to  metrical 
exigencies  which  impelled  the  sonneteer  to  aim  at  a 
uniform  condensation  of  thought  and  language."  I 
cannot  help  agreeing  with  those  who  regard  their  per- 
sonal character  as  no  "  illusion,"  and  who  believe  that 
they  clearly  show  the  increase  of  power  which  comes 
with  years,  their  true  date  probably  being  1597-98 
rather  than  1593-94. 

For  myself,  I  could  as  soon  believe  the  penitential 
psalms  of  David  to  be  purely  rhetorical  and  fictitious 
as  the  129th  Sonnet,  than  which  no  more  remorseful 
utterance  was  ever  wrung  from  a  soul  that  had  tasted 
the  ashes  10  which  the  Sodom-apples  of  illicit  love  are 
turned  in  the  end.  Have  we  there  nothing  but  the 
"  admirable  fooling  "  of  the  actor  masquerading  in  the 
garb  of  the  penitent,  or  the  satirist  mimicking  the  con- 
ceits and  affectations  of  the  sonneteers  of  the  time  ?  If 
this  is  supposed  to  be  the  counterfeit  of  feeling,  I  can 
only  exclaim  with  Leonato  in  Much  Ado,  "O  God! 
counterfeit  !  There  was  never  counterfeit  of  passion 
came   so  near   the   life   of  passion  !  " 

III.     To  WHOM     IS    THE    DEDICATION  ADDRESSED,  AND 

what  does  it  mean  ?  —  If  Shakespeare  had  nothing  to 


20  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

do  with  Thorpe's  venture,  the  dedication  is  Thorpe's 
own,  as  it  purports  to  be.  But  in  what  sense  was  "  Mr. 
VV.  H.,"  whoever  he  may  have  been,  "  the  onlie  beget- 
ter "  of  the  Sonnets  ?  li  Begetter  "  may  mean  either  the 
person  to  whom  the  poems  owed  their  birth  and  to 
whom  they  were  originally  addressed,  or  the  one  who 
collected  and  arranged  them  for  Thorpe.  The  majority 
of  critics  take  the  word  in  the  former  and  more  familiar 
sense,  while  the  minority  cite  examples  of  the  other 
meaning  from  writers  of  the  time  and  argue  plausibly 
for  its  adoption  here.  Both  explanations  have  their 
difficulties,  but  the  first  seems  on  the  whole  the  more 
probable.  The  choice  between  them  does  not  of 
necessity  affect  the  opinions  we  may  form  concerning 
the  origin,  the  order,  or  the  significance  of  the  Sotinets. 
Who  "  Mr.  W.  H."  was  critics  will  probably  never 
agree  in  deciding ;  but  if  he  was  not  the  editor  of  the 
book  of  1609,  it  had  an  editor  about  whom  we  know 
with  certainty  neither  more  nor  less  than  we  know 
about  "  Mr.  W.  H." 

The  vital  question  concerning  the  unknown  editor 
is  whether  he  was  in  the  confidence  of  either  the  writer 
of  the  sonnets  or  the  person  or  persons  to  or  for  whom 
they  were  written.  If  he  was  not,  his  arrangement  of 
the  poems  is  not  an  authoritative  one  ;  and  that  he  was 
not  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  did  not,  and  pre- 
sumably could  not,  ask  either  the  author  or  the  ad- 
dressee of  the  126th  Sonnet  for  that  supposed  lost 
couplet.     Neither   author    nor  addressee  having   been 


Introduction  21 

privy  to  the  publication  of  the  poems,  neither  would 
have  assisted  the  piratical  editor  or  publisher  in 
arranging  them  for  the  press. 

Dr.  Furnivall,  in  a  private  note,  says  he  has  no 
doubt  that  the  insertion  of  the  marks  of  parenthesis 
"  was  the  printer's  doings  ;  "  and  Mr.  Thomas  Tyler, 
in  his  edition  of  the  Sonnets  (London,  1890),  expresses 
the  same  opinion  ;  but  it  is  extremely  improbable  that 
the  printer  would  resort  to  this  extraordinary  typo- 
graphical expedient  (absolutely  unprecedented,  so  far 
as  my  observation  goes)  without  consulting  the  pub- 
lisher, and  Thorpe  would  not  have  consented  to  it  if 
he  could  have  avoided  it.  It  is  clear  that  printer  or 
publisher,  or  both,  considered  that  something  was  evi- 
dently wanting  which  could  not  be  supplied  and  must 
be  accounted  for. 

Dr.  Furnivall  also  says  that  the  supposed  ''editor" 
is  "an  imaginary  being."  He  is  in  nowise  essential 
to  the  theory.  If  anybody  chooses  to  regard  Thorpe 
as  his  own  editor,  be  it  so.  Whether  he  arranged  the 
poems  as  we  rind  them  in  his  edition  or  somebody  else 
arranged  them  for  him  does  not  matter.  In  either 
case,  he  simply  did  the  work  as  well  as  he  could  from 
what  he  knew  of  the  history  of  the  poems  or  could 
learn  from  a  study  of  them. 

The  editor,  as  we  will  call  him,  though  not  in  the  con- 
fidence of  the  persons  directly  concerned,  had  evidently 
become  deeply  interested  in  the  poems,  and  spent 
much  time  and  labour  in  making  a  collection  of  them. 


22  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

In  the  course  of  the  ten  years  or  more  previous  to  1609, 
he  had  gathered  in  the  154,  which  he  sorted  and  ar- 
ranged for  publication.  Those  urging  a  friend  to  marry 
were  easily  picked  out ;  and  this  group  of  seventeen, 
as  the  largest  —  or,  perhaps,  as  that  in  which  the  con- 
nection would  be  most  obvious  to  the  average  reader  — 
he  placed  first.  As  to  the  arrangement  of  the  other 
groups  he  had  made,  he  doubtless  had  his  own  theory, 
based,  we  may  suppose,  on  facts  better  known  or  more 
accessible  then  than  now ;  but  he  had  not  all  the  infor- 
mation he  needed  for  doing  the  work  with  absolute 
accuracy.  After  arranging  the  first  126,  or  all  that  he 
regarded  as  addressed  to  "  Mr.  W.  H."  or  the  poet's 
male  friend,  he  appended  those  written  to  the  "  dark 
lady,"  as  he  supposed  —  apparently  without  any  at- 
tempt at  regular  order,  except  in  a  few  small  groups 
readily  made  up  —  and,  having  added  the  two  Cupid 
sonnets,  handed  the  whole  collection  to  Thorpe  for 
printing. 

IV.  Are  all  the  Sonnets  addressed  to  two  Per- 
sons ?  —  It  is  hardly  possible  that  certain  of  the  sonnets 
in  the  second  group  (127-152)  were  really  addressed 
to  the  "  dark  lady," — ■  129,  for  instance,  though  it  may 
have  been  suggested  by  his  relations  with  her,  and 
146,  which  seems  to  be  entirely  independent  of  that 
entanglement. 

It  is  also  very  doubtful  whether  certain  sonnets  in 
the  first  group  (1-126)  properly  belong  there.  Some 
of   them  appear  to  have   been  addressed  to  a  woman 


Introduction  23 

rather  than  a  man  —  for  instance,  97,  98,  99,  etc.  Of 
course  everybody  familiar  with  the  literature  of  that 
time  knows,  as  Dyce  remarks,  that  "  it  was  then  not 
uncommon  for  one  man  to  write  verses  to  another  in 
a  strain  of  such  tender  affection  as  fully  warrants  us 
in  terming  them  amatory."  Many  of  Shakespeare's 
sonnets  which  he  addressed  to  his  young  friend  are  of 
this  character,  and  were  it  not  for  internal  evidence  to 
the  contrary  might  be  supposed  to  be  addressed  to  a 
woman.  But  Sonnets  97,  98,  and  99  could  hardly 
have  been  written  to  a  male  friend  even  in  that  day. 
Look  at  99,  for  example  :  — 

"The  forward  violet  thus  did  I  chide: 
Sweet  thief,  whence  didst  thou  steal  thy  sweet  that  smells, 
If  not  from  my  love's  breath  ?     The  purple  pride 
Which  on  thy  soft  cheek  for  complexion  dwells 
Tn  my  love's  veins  thou  hast  too  grossly  dyed. 
The  lily  I  condemned  for  thy  hand, 
And  buds  of  marjoram  had  stolen  thy  hair  ; 
The  roses  fearfully  on  thorns  did  stand, 
One  blushing  shame,  another  white  despair  ; 
A  third,  nor  red  nor  white,  had  stolen  of  both, 
And  to  his  robbery  had  annex'd  thy  breath; 
But,  for  his  theft,  in  pride  of  all  his  growth 
A  vengeful  canker  eat  him  up  to  death. 

More  flowers  I  noted,  yet  I  none  could  see 
Hut  sweet  or  colour  it  had  stolen  from  thee." 

If  this  sonnet  were  met  with  where  we  had  no  external 
evidence  that  it  was  addressed  to  a  man,  could  we  have 
a    moment's    hesitation    in    deciding    that    it    must    be 


24  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

addressed  to  a  woman  ?  Even  in  Elizabethan  times, 
when  extravagant  eulogies  of  manly  beauty  were  so 
common,  do  we  find  the  poet  dwelling  upon  his  "  love's 
breath  "  or  the  "  lily  "  whiteness  of  his  hand  ?  From 
first  to  last,  the  sweetness  and  loveliness  described  in 
the  verses  are  unmistakably  feminine. 

I  find  a  curious  parallel  to  this  sonnet  in  one  of  Con- 
stable's (9th  of  1st  Decade),  published  in  15941:  — 

"  My  Lady's  presence  makes  the  Roses  red, 
Because  to  see  her  lips  they  blush  for  shame. 
The  Lily's  leaves,  for  envy,  pale  became, 
And  her  white  hands  in  them  this  envy  bred. 
The  Marigold  the  leaves  abroad  doth  spread  ; 
Because  the  sun's  and  her  power  is  the  same. 
The  Violet  of  purple  colour  came, 
Dyed  in  the  blood  she  made  my  heart  to  shed- 
In  brief.     All  flowers  from  her  their  virtue  take  ; 
From  her  sweet  breath,  their  sweet  smells  do  proceed  ; 
The  living  heat  which  her  eyebeams  doth  make 
Warmeth  the  ground,  and  quickeneth  the  seed. 
The  rain,  wherewith  she  watereth  the  flowers, 
Falls  from  mine  eyes,  which  she  dissolves  in  showers." 

Reference  to  the  lily  hands  and  sweet  breath  of  women 
are  frequent  in  the  Elizabethan  sonnets,  but  I  have 
noted  nothing  of  the  kind  in  the  sonnets  addressed  to 
men. 

There  are  several  other  of  Shakespeare's  sonnets  in 

1  Whether  it  was  one  of  the  smaller  number  of  Sonnets  printed  in 
1592  I  do  not  know.  From  its  position  in  the  first  ten  in  the  Diana  of 
1594  I  should  infer  that  it  was;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was 
earlier  than  Shakespeare's. 


Introduction  25 

this  group  (1-126)  which  may  or  may  not  be  addressed 
to  women ;  the  internal  evidence  does  not  settle  the 
question  beyond  a  doubt.  Our  editor,  if  he  thought  of 
the  question  (which  is  unlikely,  as  it  does  not  appear  to 
have  occurred  to  him  in  connection  with  the  99th), 
gave  them  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and  included  them 
in  this  group. 

V.  Concerning  the  Order  of  the  Sonnets.  — 
Moreover,  certain  sonnets  in  the  first  group  appear  to 
be  out  of  place,  though  many  of  the  editors  attempt  to 
prove  that  the  order  of  the  series  is  Shakespeare's  own. 
But  if  the  70th  Sonnet  is  addressed  to  the  same  person 
as  33-35  (to  say  nothing  of  40-42)  it  seems  to  be  clearly 
out  of  place.     Here  the  poet  says  :  — 

"That  thou  art  blam'd  shall  not  be  thy  defect, 
For  slander  s  mark  was  ever  yet  the  fair  ; 
The  ornament  of  beauty  is  suspect, 
A  crow  that  flies  in  heaven"s  sweetest  air. 
So  thou  be  good,  slander  doth  but  approve 
Thy  worth  the  greater,  being  woo'd  of  time  ; 
For  canker  vice  the  sweetest  buds  doth  love, 
And  thou  prescnt'st  a  pure  unstained  prime. 
Thou  hast  pass'd  by  the  ambush  of  young  days, 
Either  not  assail \l  or  :  iotor  being  charged ; 
Yet  this  thy  praise  cannot  be  so  thy  praise 
To  tie  up  envy  evermore  enlarg'd." 

His  friend  has  been  charged  with  yielding  to  the 
seductions  of  vice,  hut  the  accusations  are  declared  to 
he'  false  and  slanderous.  I  le  is  said  to  present  "  a  pure 
unstained  prime,"  having  passed  through  the  tempta- 


26  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

tions  of  youth  either  "  not  assailed  "  by  them  or  "victor 
being  charged  ;  "  but  in  33-35  we  learn  that  he  has 
been  assailed  and  has  not  come  off  victorious.  There 
the  "stain  "  and  "  disgrace  "  of  his  "  sensual  fault  "  are 
clearly  set  forth,  though  they  are  excused  and  forgiven. 
Here  the  young  man  is  the  victim  of  slander,  but  has 
in  no  wise  deserved  it.  If  he  is  the  same  young  man 
who  is  so  plainly,  though  sadly  and  tenderly,  reproved 
in  33-35,  this  sonnet  must  have  been  written  before 
those.  One  broken  link  spoils  the  chain  ;  if  the  order 
of  the  poems  is  wrong  here,  it  may  be  so  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Tyler's  attempt  to  show  that  this  sonnet  is  not 
out  of  place  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  "  tricks  of 
desperation  "  to  which  a  critic  may  be  driven  in  defence 
of  his  theory :  "  Slander  ever  fastens  on  the  purest 
characters.  His  friend's  prime  was  unstained,  such  an 
affair  as  that  with  the  poet's  mistress  not  being  regarded, 
apparently,  as  involving  serious  moral  blemish.  More- 
over, there  had  been  forgiveness  ;  and  the  special  refer- 
ence here  may  be  to  some  charge  of  which  Mr.  W.  H. 
was  innocent/'  Whatever  this  charge  may  be.  the 
"  pure  unstained  prime  "  covers  the  period  referred  to 
in  Sonnets  33-35  and  40-42  ;  and  the  young  man's 
conduct  then  appeared  a  "trespass''  and  a  "sin,"  a 
"  shame  "  and  a  "  disgrace,''  to  the  friend  who  now. 
according  to  Mr.  Tyler,  sees  no  "  serious  moral  blem- 
ish "  in  it.  Let  the  reader  compare  the  poems  for 
himself,  and  draw  his  own  conclusions.  Mr.  Tyler  has 
the  grace  to  add  to  what  is  quoted  above  :   "  But  (as  in 


Introduction  27 

79)  Shakespeare  can  scarcely  escape  the  charge  of 
adulation."  Rather  than  believe  William  Shakespeare 
guilty  of  "  adulation  "  so  ineffably  base  and  sycophantic, 
I  could  suppose,  as  some  do,  that  Bacon  wrote  the 
Sonnets. 

Both  Furnivall  and  Dowden,  in  their  exposition  of 
the  relation  of  each  sonnet  to  the  story  involved  in  the 
series,  fail  to  explain  this  70th  Sonnet  satisfactorily. 
FurnivalFs  comment,  in  his  analysis  of  Sonnets  67-70, 
is  this :  "  Will  has  mixed  with  bad  company,  but 
Shakespeare  is  sure  he  is  pure,  and  excuses  him."  At 
this  stage  of  the  friendship,  then,  Shakespeare  is 
"  sure  "  that  the  young  man  is  "  pure  ;  "  but  in  the 
analysis  of  Sonnets  33-35,  we  read:  "Will's  sensual 
fault  blamed,  repented,  and  forgiven  ;  "  and  this 
"fault,"  as  the  context  explains,  is  taking  away  Shakes- 
peare's mistress.  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the 
fact  and  the  nature  of  the  sin  mourned  and  condemned 
in  the  earlier  sonnets  ;  nor  can  there  be  any  question 
that  the  later  sonnet  congratulates  the  youth  to  whom 
it  is  addressed,  not  on  having  repented  after  yielding 
to  temptation,  but  on  having  either  escaped  or  resisted 
all  such  temptations.  If  this  youth  and  the  other  youth 
are  one  and  the  same,  the  sonnets  cannot  be  in  chro- 
nological order. 

Dowden,  in  like  manner,  infers  from  the  earlier 
sonnets  that  "Will"  has  been  "  false  to  friendship," 
and  that  the  only  excuse  that  Shakespeare  can  offer  for 
him  is  that  "he  is   but  a  boy  whom   a  woman  has  be- 


28  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

guiled  ;  *'  but  in  the  70th  Sonnet  the  poet  says  that  the 
charges  of  loose  living  brought  against  his  friend 
"  must  be  slanders."  Dowden  cannot  mean  that  this 
sonnet  is  a  friendly  attempt  to  apologize  for  Will's  dis- 
grace after  the  poet  has  forgiven  him.  We  have  that 
in  Sonnets  35,  36,  40,  41,  and  42,  where  Elizabethan 
conceits  are  racked  to  the  uttermost  to  excuse  both  his 
friend  and  his  mistress  for  playing  him  false  ;  but,  in 
70  his  friend  is  "  pure,"  though  he  cannot  escape 
slander,  "  unstained,"  though  envy  would  fain  besmirch 
him. 

Mr.  Gollancz,  in  the  "Temple"  edition  of  the 
Sonnets,  after  quoting  what  I  say  in  my  former  edition 
(as  here)  to  prove  that  70  is  out  of  place,  simply  repeats 
Tyler's  attempt  to  prove  the  contrary.  "  Surely,"  he 
says,  "  the  faults  referred  to  in  the  earlier  sonnets  are 
not  only  forgiven,  but  here  [in  70]  imputed  to  slander." 
This  is  an  evasion  of  my  argument.  That  the  sin  was 
forgiven  is  obvious  ;  but  the  latter  sonnet  says  that  the 
sin  was  never  committed,  and  it  therefore  needed  no 
forgiveness.  How  lightly  such  lapses  were  regarded 
in  the  olden  time  we  all  know ;  but  in  this  case  the 
treason  to  friendship  was  added,  and  the  earlier  sonnets 
show  that  Shakespeare  did  not  regard  the  double  sin 
as  "  involving  no  serious  moral  blemish." 

The  critics  who  believe  the  Sonnets  to  be  autobio- 
graphical generally  agree  in  assuming  that  all  ot  them 
(or  all  but  two)  are  either  addressed  to  one  man  and 
one  woman,  or  connected  with  the  poet's  relations  with 


Introduction  29 

those  two  persons.  Is  it  not  probable,  on  the  face  of 
it,  that  a  poet  who  "  unlocked  his  heart "  to  such  an 
extent  in  this  form  of  verse  would  occasionally,  if  not 
often,  have  employed  it  in  expressing  his  feelings 
towards  other  friends  or  with  reference  to  other  expe- 
riences ?  Is  it  likely  that  the  two  Cupid  sonnets 
(153,  154)  and  the  Venus  and  Adonis  sonnets  in  The 
Passionate  Pilgrim  (if  we  believe  those  to  be  Shakes- 
peare's—  which  is  extremely  improbable)  and  the 
sonnets  in  Love's  Labour  :s  Lost  are  his  only  efforts  in 
this  kind  of  composition  outside  of  this  great  series  ? 
Is  it  not  far  more  probable  that  some  sonnets  in  this 
series  really  have  no  connection  with  the  persons  and 
events  supposed  to  be  directly  connected  with  the 
series  ? 

VI.  Who  was  "Mr.  W.  H."? — If  we  assume  that 
the  Sonnets  are  autobiographical,  and  that  all,  or  nearly 
all,  are  addressed  to  two  persons  —  a  young  man  be- 
loved of  the  poet,  and  the  "  dark  lady,"  with  whom 
they  were  both  entangled  —  can  these  persons  be  iden- 
tified ?  The  majority  of  the  critics  who  accept  the 
personal  theory  assume  that  the  "Mr.  W.  H."  of  the 
dedication  was  this  young  man,  rather  than  the  col- 
lector or  editor  of  the   poems. 

The  only  theories  concerning  the  young  man  (whether 
"  Mr.  W.  II."  or  not)  that  are  worthy  of  serious  con- 
sideration are  that  he  was  William  Herbert,  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  or  that  he  was  Henry  Wriothesley,  Earl  of 
Southampton. 


30  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

As  early  as  1819  Mr.  B.  H.  Bright  suggested  that 
Herbert  was  the  man,  and  this  theory  has  steadily 
gained  favour  with  biographers  and  critics.  The  editor 
of  the  "Temple"  edition,  who  accepts  the  Southamp- 
ton theory,  writing  a  few  years  ago,  believed  that  the 
Herbert  theory  was  "in  the  ascendant."  He  added: 
"  Many  a  former  ally  of  Southampton  has  rallied  round 
the  banner  unfurled  by  Herbert's  redoubtable  cham- 
pion, Mr.  Thomas  Tyler."  But  more  recently  (in  1897) 
Sidney  Lee,  who  had  been  on  the  side  of  Herbert,  has 
now  (in  his  article  on  Shakespeare  in  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography,  and  in  his  Life  of  Shakespeare)  gone 
over  to  the  Southampton  party ;  and  Mrs.  Stopes  and 
one  or  two  other  recent  writers  have  also  joined  that 
faction. 

William  Herbert  was  born  April  8th,  1580;  and  in 
the  spring  of  1598  he  came  to  reside  in  London.  He 
was  brilliant,  accomplished,  and  licentious  ;  "  the  most 
universally  beloved  and  esteemed  of  any  man  in  Lon- 
don "  (Clarendon).  To  him  and  his  brother  Philip, 
Earl  of  Montgomery,  as  two  patrons  of  the  dramatist, 
Heminge  and  Condell  dedicated  the  folio  of  1623.  The 
"  Herbertists  "  assign  the  Sonnets  to  the  years  1597— 
1601.  The  most  serious  objection  to  regarding  him  as 
"  Mr.  W.  H."  (or  the  person  addressed  in  the  Sonnets) 
was  the  improbability  that  the  poet  would  write  seven- 
teen sonnets  to  urge  a  youth  of  seventeen  01  eighteen 
to  marry  ;  but  Mr.  Tyler  discovered,  from  letters  pre- 
served in  the  Record  Office,  that  in  1597  the  parents  of 


Introduction  31 

William  Herbert  were  engaged  in  negotiations  for  his 
marriage  to  Bridget  Vere,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Ox- 
ford. The  course  of  the  parental  match-making  ran 
smooth  for  a  while,  but  was  soon  checked  by  obstacles 
not  clearly  explained  in  the  correspondence.  Shakes- 
peare may  have  written  the  seventeen  sonnets  at  the 
request  of  Herbert's  mother,  the  Countess  of  Pembroke. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Grant  White,  in  his  first 
edition  of  Shakespeare  (1865)  had  said  of  Sonnets 
1 — 1 7  :  "There  seems  to  be  no  imaginable  reason  for 
seventeen  such  poetical  petitions.  But  that  a  mother 
should  be  thus  solicitous  is  not  strange,  or  that  she 
should  long  to  see  the  beautiful  children  of  her  own 
beautiful  offspring.  The  desire  for  grandchildren,  and 
the  love  of  them,  seem  sometimes  even  stronger  than 
parental  yearning.  But  I  hazard  this  conjecture  with 
little  confidence." 

Mr.  Tyler  also  attempted  to  prove  that  the  "  dark 
lady "  was  Mary  Fitton,  maid  of  honour  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  mistress  of  Herbert,  by  whom  she  had 
a  child  in  1601.  The  Queen  could  not  overlook  the 
offence,  and  sent  the  father  to  the  Fleet  Prison.  He 
was  soon  released,  but  appears  never  to  have  regained 
the  royal  favour. 

There  is  no  direct  evidence  to  connect  Shakespeare 
with  Mistress  Fitton ;  but  we  find  that  she  was  on 
somewhat  intimate  terms  with  a  member  of  his  theat- 
rical company,  that  is,  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  Com- 
pany, and  was  probably  acquainted  with  other  members 


32  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

of  it.  In  1600  William  Kemp,  the  clown  in  the  com- 
pany, dedicated  his  Nine  dates  wonder  to  "  Mistris 
Anne  Fitton,  Mayde  of  Honour  to  most  sacred  Mayde, 
Royal  Queene  Elizabeth."  As  Elizabeth  certainly  had 
no  maid  of  honour  named  Anne  Fitton  in  1600,  while 
Mary  Fitton  held  such  office  from  1595  to  1601,  either 
Kemp  or  his  printer  probably  made  a  mistake  in  the 
lady's  Christian  name  in  the  dedication.  As  Mr.  Tyler 
suggests,  the  form  "  Marie  "  might  be  so  written  as  to 
be  easily  mistaken  for  "  Anne."  Mary  had  a  sister 
Anne,  who  was  married  to  John  Newdigate  on  the  30th 
of  April,  1587,  and  who  could  not,  therefore,  have  been 
maid  of  honour  in  1600. 

A  statue  of  Mary  Fitton  exists  as  a  part  of  the  family 
monument  in  Gawsworth  Church,  Cheshire  ;  and  the 
remnants  of  colour  upon  it  were  thought  by  Mr.  Tyler 
(as  by  others  who  have  seen  it)  to  indicate  that  she  was 
of  dark  complexion,  with  black  hair  and  eyes,  like  the 
lady  of  the  second  series  of  the  Sonnets.  But  Lady 
Newdigate-Newdegate  {Gossip  from  a  Muniment  Room, 
1898)  states  that  two  portraits  of  Mary  represent  her 
as  of  fair  complexion,  with  brown  hair  and  gray  eyes. 

It  is  a  point  in  favour  of  the  Herbert  theory  that 
Sonnets  135,  136,  and  143  indicate  that  the  person  to 
whom  the  poems  in  the  other  series  were  addressed  was 
called  "  Will;"  but  Mr.  Lee  considers  that  "Will"  in 
these  sonnets  is  only  a  play  on  Shakespeare's  own  name 
and  the  lady's  "  will."  It  is  true  that  such  quibbles  on 
v'  Will  "  are    found  elsewhere   in    his  works,    but    it  is 


Introduction  33 

doubtful  whether  any  one  but  a  "  Southamptonite " 
would  see  them  in  these  sonnets. 

I  lenry  Wriothesley  was  born  October  6th,  1573.  As 
we  have  seen,  the  Venus  and  Adonis  and  the  Lucrece 
were  both  dedicated  to  him,  and  tradition  says  that  he 
was  a  generous  patron  of  the  poet.  In  September, 
1595,  he  fell  in  love  with  Elizabeth  Vernon,  a  cousin  of 
the  Earl  of  Essex.  This  lost  him  the  favour  of  the 
Queen  and  involved  him  in  serious  troubles.  In  1598 
he  secretly  married  Elizabeth  Vernon.  On  account  of 
his  connection  with  the  rebellion  of  Essex  he  was  con- 
demned to  death,  but  the  sentence  was  commuted  to 
imprisonment  for  life.  He  was  pardoned  in  1603  when 
James  came  to  the  throne,  and  the  107th  Sonnet  is 
supposed  by  Mr.  Gerald  Massey  to  be  Shakespeare's 
congratulation  upon  his  release  from  prison  and  resto- 
ration to  royal  favour.  The  initials  in  "  Mr.  W.  H.," 
according  to  some  of  the  critics  who  identify  him  with 
Southampton,  arc  those  of  Henry  Wriothesley  trans- 
posed as  a  "  blind." 

When  Southampton  was  seventeen  (1590)  he  was 
urged  by  Burghley  to  marry  his  granddaughter,  Lady 
Elizabeth  Vere,  a  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  but 
the  youth  declined  the  alliance.  If  the  Sonnets  were 
addressed  to  him,  the  first  seventeen  could  hardly  have 
been  written  at  this  time  (which  is  earlier  than  any 
date  assumed  for  the  poems),  but  the  efforts  of  his 
friends  to  find  him  a  wife  continued  fur  several  years 
afterwards. 

SHAKKSl'KAKL'S    SnNNKI'S  —   ^ 


34  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

While  Mr.  Lee  believes  that  such  of  the  Sonnets  as 
are  personal  in  their  character  are  addressed  to  South- 
ampton, he  does  not  understand  that  nobleman  to  be 
the  "Mr.  W.  II."  of  the  dedication.  He  says:  "No 
peer  of  the  day  bore  a  name  that  could  be  represented 
by  the  initials  'Mr.  W.  H.'  .  .  .  The  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke was,  from  his  birth  to  the  date  of  his  succession 
to  the  earldom  in  1601,  known  by  the  courtesy  title  of 
Lord  Herbert,  and  by  no  other  name,  and  he  could  not 
have  been  designated  at  any  period  of  his  life  by  the 
symbols  '  Mr.  W.  H.'  "  This  may  be  admitted,  but  it 
does  not  prove  that  the  "Mr.  W.  H."  of  the  dedication 
was  not  meant  to  refer  ambiguously  to  him.  If  Thorpe 
knew  the  history  of  the  Sonnets,  and  that  both  the 
author  and  the  person  to  whom  they  were  addressed 
did  not  wish  to  have  them  printed,  he  certainly  would 
not  venture  to  inscribe  the  book  in  distinct  terms  to  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke  ;  but  he  might  be  inclined  to  give  an 
indirect  hint  to  those  who  were  acquainted  with  the 
story  underlying  the  poems  that  he  also  knew  of  the 
Earl's  connection  with  it.  He  could  do  this  with  per- 
fect safety  by  using  the  initials  "  W.  II."  which,  as  Mr. 
Lee  elsewhere  remarks,  were  common  to  many  names, 
and  which  therefore  could  not  he  proved  to  be  meant  to 
suggest  "  William  Herbert." 

But  after  all  it  matters  little  whether  "  W.  H."  was 
meant  for  "  William  Herbert  "  or  "  Henry  Wriothesley," 
so  far  as  either  the  Herbert  or  the  Southampton  theory 
is  concerned.     In  either  case  they  might  refer  to  the 


Introduction  35 

"  begetter "  of  the  poems  as  the  collector  or  editor, 
though  the  other  interpretation  of  "  begetter  "  seems  to 
accord  better  with  the  rest  of  the  dedication.  Mr.  Lee 
thinks  that  Mr.  W.  H.  is  "  best  identified  with  a 
stationer's  assistant,  William  Hall,  who  was  profession- 
ally engaged,  like  Thorpe,  in  procuring  'copy,'"  and 
who,  in  1606,  "won  a  conspicuous  success  in  that 
direction,  and  conducted  his  operations  under  cover  of 
the  familiar  initials."  Thorpe  "gave  Hall's  initials 
only  because  he  was  an  intimate  associate  who  was 
known  by  those  initials  to  their  common  circle  of 
friends."  But,  though  Thorpe  was  "  bombastic  "  in  his 
dedications,  and  might  wish  to  Hall  "  all  happiness  " 
and  even  "eternitie,"  it  is  unlikely  that  he  would  wish 
him  that  "eternitie  promised  by  our  ever-living  poet." 
Promised  to  whom  ?  Mr.  Lee  refers  it  to  the  eternity 
that  Shakespeare  in  the  Sonnets  "  conventionally  fore- 
told for  his  own  verse  ,  "  but  this  interpretation  is  a 
desperate  attempt  to  force  the  expression  into  consist- 
ency with  his  theory.  The  words  plainly  mean  "  prom- 
ised in  the  Sonnets  to  the  person  to  whom  they  are 
addressed."  This  promise  is  far  more  prominent  in 
the  Sonnets  than  that  of  their  own  immortality,  which, 
indeed,  is  made  dependent  on  the  enduring  fame  of 
the  youth  who  is  their  theme  and  inspirer. 

If  it  were  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  "  Mr.  W.  H." 
was  William  Hall,  or  some  other  person  who  secured 
the  Sonnets  for  Thorpe,  I  should  none  the  less  believe 
that     Herbert     rather    than     Southampton    was    their 


3 6  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

"  patron  "  and  subject.  The  only  facts  worth  mention- 
ing in  favour  of  Southampton  are  that  the  earlier  poems 
were  dedicated  to  him,  and  that  certain  personal  allu- 
sions in  the  Sonnets  can  be  made  to  refer  to  him  if  we 
suppose  them  to  have  been  written  some  four  years 
before  their  more  probable  date.  But  Mr.  Lee  himself 
admits  that  these  allusions  are  equally  applicable  to 
Herbert.  "  Both,"  he  says,  "  enjoyed  wealth  and  rank, 
both  were  regarded  by  admirers  as  cultivated,  both 
were  self-indulgent  in  their  relations  with  women,  and 
both  in  early  manhood  were  indisposed  to  marry,  owing 
to  habits  of  gallantry."  It  may  be  added  that  both 
were  noted  for  personal  beauty,  though  Mr.  Lee  thinks 
that  Francis  Davison's  reference  to  the  beauty  of 
Herbert  in  a  sonnet  addressed  to  him  in  1602  is 
"  cautiously  qualified  "  in  the  lines  :  — 

"  [His]  outward  shape,  though  it  most  lovely  be, 
Doth  in  fair  robes  a  fairer  soul  attire." 

Anybody  who  had  not  a  theory  to  defend  would  see 
that  the  eulogy  of  the  "fairer  soul  "  enhances  instead 
of  "  qualifying"  the  compliment  to  the  "  most  lovely  " 
person.  This  is  a  good  illustration  of  Mr.  Lee's 
perverse  twisting  of  quotations  for  the  purposes  of  his 
argument.  He  even  finds  a  reference  to  Southampton's 
longhair  (shown  in  his  portrait)  in  the  68th  Sonnet, 
where  Shakespeare  "  points  to  the  youth's  face  as  a 
map  of  what  beauty  was  '  without  all  ornament,  itself 
and  true,'  before  fashion  sanctioned  the  use  of  artificial 


Introduction  37 

'  golden  tresses  '  "  —  though  this  is  only  one  out  of 
several  illustrations  of  the  poet's  antipathy  to  false 
hair.  See  Love's  Labour's  Lost,  iv.  3.  258,  Merchant  of 
Venice,  iii.  2.  95,  and  Timon  of  Athens,  iv.  3.  144. 

VII.  The  Date  of  the  Sonnets.  — -One  of  the  most 
serious  objections  to  the  Southampton  theory  is  the 
necessity  which  it  involves  of  fixing  the  date  of  the 
poems  as  early  as  1592  or  1593.  That  period  of 
Shakespeare's  career  is  so  crowded  with  work,  dramatic 
and  poetic,  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  add  anything 
more  to  it.  If  he  did  not  begin  authorship  until  1590 
(as  is  generally  assumed,  though  a  few  critics  believe  it 
may  have  been  as  early  as  1588  or  1589)  the  period  of 
his  literary  apprenticeship  covers  only  four  (or  at  most 
six)  years  or  to  the  end  of  1594  ;  and  during  this  time 
he  revised  more  or  less  thoroughly  Titus  Andronicus 
and  the  three  parts  of  Henry  17..  and  wrote  at  least 
seven  original  plays  —  Love's  Labour  's  Lost,  The  2wo 
Gentlemen  of  Verona,  The  Comedy  of  Errors,  A  Alid- 
summer-Xighfs  Dream,  Romeo  and  Juliet,  Richard  III., 
and  Richard  //.  The  two  long  poems,  Venus  and  Adonis 
and  Lucrccc.  also  belong  to  this  period.  To  all  this 
some  critics  (Mr.  bee  among  them)  would  add  King 
John  and  The  Merchant  of  Wince.  And  all  this  time 
Shakespeare  was  actively  engaged  in  his  profession  as 
an  actor.  Is  it  conceivable  that  before  the  end  of  1594. 
in  addition  to  all  this  work,  he  could  have  produced  the 
Sonnets,  most  of  which  Mr.  Lee  assumes  to  have  been 
written  between  the  spring  of   :  Sl)5  and  the  autumn  of 


38  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

1594?  Personally,  I  believe  that  King  John  cannot 
be  dated  earlier  than  1595  or  The  Merchant  of  Venice 
than  1596  or  1597,  and  yet  the  literary  productivity  of 
the  preceding  period,  which  must  include  all  the  other 
plays  and  poems  mentioned,  seems  to  me  prodigious. 

There  are  difficulties,  it  is  true,  according  to  some  of 
the  critics,  in  fixing  the  date  of  the  Sonnets  as  required 
by  the  Herbert  theory.  The  earliest  of  them  cannot 
be  supposed  to  have  been  written  before  1597,  when 
Herbert's  friends  desired  that  he  should  marry  Bridget 
Vere  ;  and  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  rest,  or  the  great 
majority  of  them,  must  have  been  written  before  Jaggard 
printed  the  144th  Sonnet  in  1599,  because,  it  is  said, 
that  sonnet  proves  that  the  intrigue  with  the  "dark 
lady  "  had  come  to  an  end.  But,  though  no  critic 
appears  to  have  pointed  it  out,  this  is  clearly  a  misin- 
terpretation of  that  sonnet,  which,  instead  of  marking 
the  end  of  the  story,  really  belongs  to  a  comparatively 
early  stage  of  it.  The  sonnet,  which  it  is  well  to  quote 
here  in  order  to  bring  it  directly  before  the  eye  of  the 
reader,  is  as  follows  :  — 

ct  Two  loves  I  have  of  comfort  and  despair, 
Which  like  two  spirits  do  suggest  me  still  ; 
The  better  angel  is  a  man  right  fair, 
The  worser  spirit  a  woman  colour'd  ill. 
To  win  me  soon  to  hell,  my  female  evil 
Tempteth  my  better  angel  from  my  side, 
And  would  corrupt  my  saint  to  be  a  devil, 
Wooing  his  purity  with  her  foul  pride. 
And  whether  that  my  angel  be  turn'd  fiend 


Introduction  39 

Suspect  I  may,  yet  not  directly  tell  ; 

But  being  both  from  me,  both  to  each  friend, 

I  guess  one  angel  in  another's  hell. 

Yet  this  shall  I  ne'er  know,  but  live  in  doubt, 
Till  my  bad  angel  fire  my  good  one  out," 

This  certainly  refers  to  the  period  indicated  in 
Sonnets  33-35,  at  the  latest.  The  poet  says  that  the 
woman  "  tempteth  "  (not,  has  succeeded  in  seducing) 
his  friend.  She  "  would  corrupt  "  him,  but  whether  she 
has  actually  done  it,  he  adds,  "  Suspect  I  may,  yet  not 
directly  tell,"  and  "  I  guess  one  angel  in  another's  hell ;  " 
but  he  does  not  "  know  "  this,  and  will  "  live  in  doubt " 
until  the  affair  comes  to  an  end.  But  in  Sonnets  34 
and  35  he  had  no  doubt  that  the  "  woman  coloured  ill " 
had  corrupted  his  "better  angel."  He  endeavours  to 
excuse  the  "sensual  fault"  of  his  friend;  but  in  the 
next  sonnet  he  decides  that 

"  We  two  must  be  twain, 
Although  our  undivided  loves  are  one." 

They  cannot  wholly  cease  to  love  each  other,  but  "  a 
separable  spite  "  ("  a  cruel  fate  that  spitefully  separates 
us  from  each  other,"  as  Malone  paraphrases  it)  must 
put  an  end  to  their  friendly  intercourse.  In  Sonnets 
40-42  he  recurs  to  the  "  robbery  "  his  friend  has  com- 
mitted ;  and  laments,  not  only  the  loss  of  his  mistress 
but  that  of  his  friend  :  — 

"  That  thou  hast  her,  it  is  not  all  my  grief, 
And  yet  it  may  be  said  1  loved  her  dearly; 


4-0  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

That  she  hath  thee  is  of  my  wailing  chief, 
A  loss  in  love  that  touches  me  more  nearly." 

Is  it  not  evident  that  Sonnet  144,  with  its  suspicions 
and  doubts  and  guesses,  was  written  before  rather 
than  after  33-35  and  40-42,  where  the  same  facts  are 
treated  as  facts  well  established,  and  thoroughly  recog- 
nized as  such  by  all  the  parties  interested  ? 

It  is  not  necessary,  then,  to  assume  that  all  or  most 
of  the  Sonnets  were  written  before  1599,  when  The 
Passionate  Pilgrim  was  published.  Perhaps  compara- 
tively few  were  then  in  existence  ;  and  this  may  be  one 
of  the  reasons  why  Jaggard  was  unable  to  get  more  of 
them  for  his  sixpenny  booklet.  It  would  be  easier  to 
keep  thirty  or  forty  out  of  his  reach  among  the  poet's 
"  private  friends  "  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  ;  and  Meres 
may  not  have  had  even  as  many  as  thirty  in  mind  when 
he  referred  to  the  "  sugred  sonnets,"  in  1598.  The 
others  may  have  been  scattered  through  several  years 
after  1599  ;  and  some  of  those  which  seem  independent 
of  the  regular  series  may  have  been  written  only  a  few 
years  before  the  whole  collection  was  published  in 
1609. 

Mr.  Lee  dates  some  of  the  sonnets  much  later  than 
t 593— 94.  He  believes,  for  instance,  with  Mr.  (lerald 
Massey  {Shakespeare's  Sonnets,  1866).  that  the  [07th  was 
written  in  J  603,  and  refers  to  the  death  of  Elizabeth 
and  the  release  of  Southampton  from  prison  on  the 
accession  of  James.  "  The  mortal  moon  ''of  the  sonnet 
is    Elizabeth,  whose    "  recognized   poetic   appellation  ' 


Introduction  41 

was  Cynthia  (the  moon)  ;  and  her  death  is  more  than 
once  described  as  an  eclipse.  But  the  sonnet  tells  us 
that  the  moon  "hath  her  eclipse  endured''''  and  come 
out  none  the  less  bright  —  which  could  hardly  refer  to 
death  ;  and  the  supposed  allusion  to  the  imprisonment 
of  the  poet's  friend  is  extremely  fanciful. 

It  may  be  added  that  Shakespeare's  references  to 
himself  in  the  Sonnets  as  "  old  "  appear  to  have  a  bear- 
ing on  their  date,  and  thus  upon  the  question  whether 
Herbert  or  Southampton  was  the  person  addressed. 
Thirty  or  more  of  them  were  written  before  1599,  when 
the  poet  was  thirty-five  years  old,  and  the  first  seven- 
teen appear  to  have  been  written  in  1597,  when  he  was 
only  thirty-three;  but  in  the  22(1,  which  seems  to  be 
one  of  the  earlier  ones,  he  intimates  that  he  is  already 
old  :  — 

"  My  glass  shall  not  persuade  me  T  am  old, 
So  long  as  youth  and  thou  are  of  one  date;  " 

but  in  the  preceding  sonnets  he  has  repeatedly  admon- 
ished his  voting  friend  that  the  summer  of  youth  is  fast 
flying,  and  has  urged  this  as  a  reason  why  he  should 
marry;  "for,"  he  says  in  substance,  ''you  will  soon  be 
old,  as  I  am."  Tn  the  73d  we  have  a  most  beautiful  and 
:  :tthetic  description  of  his  own  autumnal  age:  — 

"That  time  of  year  thou  mayst  in  me  behold 
When  yellow  leaves,  or  none,  or  few,  do  hang 
1*1  "ii  those  boughs  which  shake  against  the  cold, 
bare  ruinM  choirs,  where  late  the  sweet  birds  sang." 


42  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

In  the  138th,  which  was  published  in  1599,  he  refers  to 
himself  as  "old"  and  his  days  as  "past  the  best." 
We  are  told  that  here,  as  in  some  of  the  earlier  sonnets, 
he  is  comparing  himself,  as  a  mature  and  experienced 
man,  with  a  green  youth  of  perhaps  twenty.  Thus  in 
the  62d  Sonnet,  after  referring  to  his  own  face  as  he 
sees  it  in  the  glass,  "  Bated  and  chopp'd  with  tann'd 
antiquity,"  he  adds  that  he  comforts  himself  by"  Paint- 
ing my  age  with  beauty  of  thy  days."  But  in  the  73d 
there  is  no  contrast  of  his  own  age  with  that  of  his 
young  friend,  but  a  long-drawn  and  apparently  heartfelt 
lament  that  his  life  has  fallen  into  the  sere  and  yellow 
leaf.  Mr.  Lee  says  that  this  "  occasional  reference  to 
his  growing  age  was  a  conventional  device — traceable 
to  Petrarch  —  of  all  sonneteers  of  the  day,  and  admits 
of  no  literal  interpretation."  If  the  Sonnets  were  of  the 
ordinary  conventional  Elizabethan  type,  poetical  exer- 
cises on  fictitious  themes,  we  might  think  the  "  grow- 
ing age  "  equally  fictitious  ;  but  William  Shakespeare, 
at  twenty-nine  or  thirty  (as  Mr.  Lee  imagines  him  to 
have  been  when  he  wrote  these  sonnets),  or  even  at 
thirty-five,  was  not  the  man  to  indulge  in  such  senti- 
mental foolery —  least  of  all  through  an  entire  sonnet  — 
when  dealing  with  real  experiences  like  those  which 
form  the  basis  of  these  poems. 

However  that  may  be,  a  man  of  twenty-eight  or 
twenty-nine  (as  Shakespeare  was  in  1592  or  1593) 
writing  to  one  of  nineteen  or  twenty  (as  Southampton 
was  in  those  years)  would  be   less  likely  to  assume  that 


Introduction  43 

fictitiously  exaggerated  age  than  a  man  of  thirty-three 
or  thirty-four  (in  1597  or  1598)  writing  to  a  youth  of 
seventeen  or  eighteen,  as   Herbert  then  was. 

VIII.  Who  was  the  "  Rival  Poet  "?  —  Among  the 
minor  questions  relating  to  the  Sonnets  which  have 
been  the  subject  of  no  little  controversy  the  only  one 
that  seems  to  claim  notice  here  is  the  identity  of  the 
"  rival  poet "  of  Sonnets  79-86.  Spenser,  Marlowe, 
Drayton,  Nash,  Daniel,  and  others  have  been  suggested 
by  the  critics,  and  Mr.  Lee  adds  Barnabe  Barnes,  "  a 
poetic  panegyrist  of  Southampton  and  a  prolific  sonnet- 
eer, who  was  deemed  by  contemporary  critics  certain 
to  prove  a  great  poet."  On  the  whole,  Chapman, 
whom  Professor  Minto  was  the  first  to  suggest,  and 
whom  Dowden,  Furnivall,  and  many  others  have  en- 
dorsed, is  most  likely  to  have  been  the  poet  whom 
Shakespeare  had  in  mind.  Mr.  Lee,  having  dated  the 
Sonnets  in  1592  and  1593,  naturally  objects  that  Chap- 
man had  produced  no  conspicuously  "  great  verse  " 
until  1598,  and  that  we  find  no  complimentary  sonnet 
addressed  by  him  to  Southampton  until  1610;  but  he 
had  published  poetry  before  1598,  and  that  date  is 
early  enough  for  the  Herbert  theory,  in  which,  of 
course,  the  failure  to  praise  Southampton  does  not 
count.  The  question,  nevertheless,  is  one  that  cannot 
be  definitely  settled. 

IX.  Other  Theories  of  the  Sonnets.  —  Besides 
the  autobiographical  theories  concerning  the  Sonnets 
many  others,  allegorical,  mystical,  and  fantastical,  have 


44  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

been  proposed,  which  it  would  take  too  much  space 
even  to  enumerate  here  ;  neither  is  it  possible  to  make 
more  than  a  passing  reference  to  the  notions  that  "  Mr. 
W.  H."  was  William  Hart,  the  poet's  nephew  (who  was 
not  born  until  a  year  after  The  Passionate  Pilgrim  was 
printed,  and  was  only  nine  years  old  in  1609),  William 
Hughes  (on  the  strength  of  the  capitalized  and  itali- 
cized Hues  in  the  20th  Sonnet),  "William  Himself"  (a 
German  notion,  revived  by  Mr.  Parke  Godwin  in  1901), 
or  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  or  that  the  poems  are  addressed 
to  Ideal  Manhood,  or  the  Spirit  of  Beauty,  or  the 
Reason,  or  the  Divine  Logos  ;  or  that  the  "  dark  lady  " 
is  Dramatic  Art,  or  the  Gatholic  Church,  or  the  Bride 
of  the  Canticles,  "black  but  comely.''1 

X.  Conclusions.  —  It  would  be  interesting,  if  space 
permitted,  to  consider  the  Sonnets  as  poems  —  to  note 
the  "  linked  sweetness  long  drawn  out  "  of  their  verse, 
not  unmixed  with  most  sonorous  music,  and  what  Cole- 
ridge has  aptly  called  their  "  boundless  fertility  and 
laboured  condensation  of  thought ;  "  or  to  view  them,  in 
the  words  of  Furnivall,  "  as  a  piece  of  music,  or  as 
Shakespeare's  pathetic  sonata,  each  melody  introduced, 
dropped  again,  brought  in  again  with  variations,  but 
one  full  strain  of  undying  love  and  friendship  running 
through  the  whole  ;  "  but  1  can  only  close  with  a  sum- 
ming up  of  what  I  have  attempted  to  prove;  — 

1  For  some  account  of  the  "Baconian"  theories  see  the  Ap~ 
penJix. 


Introduction  4.5 

(1)  That  the  Sonnets  were  not  edited  by  Shakes 
peare,  but  by  some  anonymous  collector,  who  did  not, 
and  obviously  could  not,  ask  the  poet  or  the  persons  to 
whom  they  were  addressed  for  aid  in  settling  a  textual 
question. 

(2)  That  the  arrangement  of  the  Sonnets  in  the 
edition  of  1609  was  therefore  not  authoritative,  but 
simply  the  best  conjectural  one  that  the  collector  could 
make,  from  a  study  of  the  poems  and  what  he  knew  of 
their  history;  and  there  is,  moreover,  internal  evidence 
that  the  order  is  not  strictly  chronological. 

(3)  That  the  great  majority  of  the  Sonnets  are 
probably  personal,  or  autobiographical,  and  were  not 
intended  for  publication  ;  but  it  is  not  probable  that 
the  first  1  2G  (or  such  of  these  as  are  personal)  are  all 
addressed  to  one  man,  and  the  rest  to  one  woman,  with 
whom  Shakespeare  and  that  man  were  entangled. 

(4)  That  "Mr.  W.  II.'' was  probably  the  person  to 
whom  the  Sonnets  are  addressed,  rather  than  the  one 
who  collected  and  edited  them  ;  and  that,  if  so,  he  was 
probably  William  Herbert,  Marl  of  Pembroke  ;  but  the 
"  dark  lady,"  to  whom  most  of  the  second  series  (1  27— 
152)   were   addressed,   cannot  be    positively  identified. 

(5)  That  while  the  majority  of  the  Sonnets  were 
probablv  written  between  1597  and  1601,  some  of 
them,  particularly  those  which  are  not  connected  with 
the  main  story,  may  be  of  later  date. 


SHAKESPEARE'S    SONNETS 


TO. THE.  ONLIE.  BEGETTER.  OF 

THESE.  INSVING.  SONNETS. 

MR.W.  H.  ALL.  HAPPINESSE. 

AND. THAT.  ETERNITIE. 

PROMISED. 

BY. 

OVR.  EVER-LIVING.  POET. 

WISHETH. 

THE.  WELL-WISH!*  i 

ADVENTVRER. IN. 

SETTING. 

FORTH. 


T.  T 


Head  of  Eros  (from  the  Antiqub) 

SONNETS 

I. 

From  fairest  creatures  we  desire  increase, 
That  thereby  beauty's  rose  might  never  die, 
But  as  the  riper  should  by  time  decease, 
His  tender  heir  might  bear  his  memory; 
But  thou,  contracted  to  thine  own  bright  eyes, 
Feed'st  thy  light's  rlame  with  self-substantial  fuel. 
Making  a  famine  where  abundance  lies, 
Thyself  thy  foe,  to  thy  sweet  self  too  cruel. 
Thou,  that  art  now  the  world's  fresh  ornament 
And  only  herald  to  the  gaudy  spring, 
Within  thine  own  bud  buriest  thy  content 
And,  tender  churl,  mak'st  waste  in  niggarding. 
Shakespeare's  sonnets  —  4       49 


50  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Pity  the  world,  or  else  this  glutton  be, 

To  eat  the  world's  due,  by  the  grave  and  thee. 

II. 

When  forty  winters  shall  besiege  thy  brow 
And  dig  deep  trenches  in  thy  beauty's  field, 
Thy  youth's  proud  livery,  so  gaz'd  on  now, 
Will  be  a  tatter'd  weed,  of  small  worth  held ; 
Then  being  ask'd  where  all  thy  beauty  lies, 
Where  all  the  treasure  of  thy  lusty  days, 
To  say,  within  thine  own  deep-sunken  eyes, 
Were  an  all-eating  shame  and  thriftless  praise. 
How  much  more  praise  deserv'd  thy  beauty's  use 
If  thou  couldst  answer  '  This  fair  child  of  mine 
Shall  sum  my  count  and  make  my  old  excuse,' 
Proving  his  beauty  by  succession  thine  ! 

This  were  to  be  new  made  when  thou  art  old, 
And  see  thy  blood  warm  when  thou  feel'st  it  cold. 

III. 

Look  in  thy  glass,  and  tell  the  face  thou  vie  west 
Now  is  the  time  that  face  should  form  another, 
Whose  fresh  repair  if  now  thou  not  renewest 
Thou  dost  beguile  the  world,  unbless  some  mother. 
For  where  is  she  so  fair  whose  unear'd  womb 
Disdains  the  tillage  of  thy  husbandry  ? 
Or  who  is  he  so  fond  will  be  the  tomb 
Of  his  self-love,  to  stop  posterity  ? 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  51 

Thou  art  thy  mother's  glass,  and  she  in  thee 
Calls  back  the  lovely  April  of  her  prime  ; 
So  thou  through  windows  of  thine  age  shalt  see, 
Despite  of  wrinkles,  this  thy  golden  time. 
But  if  thou  live,  remember'd  not  to  be, 
Die  single,  and  thine  image  dies  with  thee. 

IV. 

Unthrifty  loveliness,  why  dost  thou  spend 
Upon  thyself  thy  beauty's  legacy  ? 
Nature's  bequest  gives  nothing  but  doth  lend, 
And  being  frank  she  lends  to  those  are  free. 
Then,  beauteous  niggard,  why  dost  thou  abuse 
The  bounteous  largess  given  thee  to  give  ? 
Profitless  usurer,  why  dost  thou  use 
So  great  a  sum  of  sums,  yet  canst  not  live  ? 
P'or,  having  traffic  with  thyself  alone; 
Thou  of  thyself  thy  sweet  self  dost  deceive. 
Then  how,  when  nature  calls  thee  to  be  gone, 
What  acceptable  audit  canst  thou  leave  ? 

Thy  unus'd  beauty  must  be  tomb'd  with  thee, 
Which,  used,  lives  the  executor  to  be. 


Those  hours  that  with  gentle  work  did  frame 
The  lovely  gaze  where  every  eye  doth  dwell 
Will  play  the  tyrants  to  the  very  same 
And  that  unfair  which  fairly  doth  excel ; 


$2  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

For  never-resting  time  leads  summer  on 

To  hideous  winter  and  confounds  him  there ; 

Sap  check'd  with  frost  and  lusty  leaves  quite  gone, 

Beauty  o'ersnow'd  and  bareness  every  where. 

Then,  were  not  summer's  distillation  left, 

A  liquid  prisoner  pent  in  walls  of  glass, 

Beauty's  effect  with  beauty  were  bereft, 

Nor  it  nor  no  remembrance  what  it  was. 

But  flowers  distill'd,  though  they  with  winter  meet, 
Leese  but  their  show ;    their  substance  still  lives 
sweet. 

VI. 

Then  let  not  winter's  ragged  hand  deface 

In  thee  thy  summer  ere  thou  be  distill'd. 

Make  sweet  some  vial ;  treasure  thou  some  place 

With  beauty's  treasure  ere  it  be  self-kill'd. 

That  use  is  not  forbidden  usury 

Which  happies  those  that  pay  the  willing  loan  ; 

That  's  for  thyself  to  breed  another  thee, 

Or  ten  times  happier,  be  it  ten  for  one. 

Ten  times  thyself  were  happier  than  thou  art, 

If  ten  of  thine  ten  times  refigur'd  thee ; 

Then  what  could  death  do,  if  thou  shouldst  depart, 

Leaving  thee  living  in  posterity  ? 

Be  not  self-will'd,  for  thou  art  much  too  fair 
To  be    death's   conquest   and    make  worms  thine 
heir. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  $1 


VII. 

Lo !  in  the  orient  when  the  gracious  light 
Lifts  up  his  burning  head,  each  under  eye 
Doth  homage  to  his  new-appearing  sight, 
Serving  with  looks  his  sacred  majesty  ; 
And  having  climb'd  the  steep-up  heavenly  hill, 
Resembling  strong  youth  in  his  middle  age, 
Yet  mortal  looks  adore  his  beauty  still, 
Attending  on  his  golden  pilgrimage. 
But  when  from  highmost  pitch,  with  weary  car, 
Like  feeble  age,  he  reeleth  from  the  day, 
The  eyes,  fore  duteous,  now  converted  are 
From  his  low  tract  and  look  another  way ; 
So  thou,  thyself  out-going  in  thy  noon, 
Unlook'd  on  diest  unless  thou  get  a  son. 

VIII. 

Music  to  hear,  why  hear'st  thou  music  sadly? 
Sweets  with  sweets  war  not,  joy  delights  in  joy. 
Why  lov'st  thou  that  which  thou  receiv'st  not  gladly, 
Or  else  receiv'st  with  pleasure  thine  annoy  ? 
If  the  true  concord  of  well-tuned  sounds, 
By  unions  married,  do  offend  thine  ear, 
They  do  but  sweetly  chide  thee,  who  confounds 
In  singleness  the  parts  that  thou  shouldst  bear. 
Mark  how  one  string,  sweet  husband  to  another, 
Strikes  each  in  each  by  mutual  ordering, 


54  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Resembling  sire  and  child  and  happy  mother, 
Who,  all  in  one,  one  pleasing  note  do  sing ; 

Whose  speechless  song,  being  many,  seeming  one, 
Sings  this  to  thee :  '  Thou  single  wilt  prove  none,' 

IX. 

Is  it  for  fear  to  wet  a  widow's  eye 
That  thou  consum'st  thyself  in  single  life  ? 
Ah  i  if  thou  issueless  shalt  hap  to  die, 
The  world  will  wail  thee,  like  a  makeless  wife ; 
The  world  will  be  thy  widow  and  still  weep 
That  thou  no  form  of  thee  hast  left  behind, 
When  every  private  widow  well  may  keep 
By  children's  eyes  her  husband's  shape  in  mind. 
Look,  what  an  unthrift  in  the  world  doth  spend 
Shifts  but  his  place,  for  still  the  world  enjoys  it ; 
But  beauty's  waste  hath  in  the  world  an  end, 
And,  kept  unus'd,  the  user  so  destroys  it. 
No  love  toward  others  in  that  bosom  sits 
That  on  himself  such  murtherous  shame  commits 

X. 

For  shame  !  deny  that  thou  bear'st  love  to  any; 
Who  for  thyself  art  so  un provident. 
Grant,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  art  belov'd  of  many, 
But  that  thou  none  lov'st  is  most  evident ; 
For  thou  art  so  possess'd  with  murtherous  hate 
That  'gainst  thyself  thou  stick'st  not  to  conspire; 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  55 

Seeking  that  beauteous  roof  to  ruinate 

Which  to  repair  should  be  thy  chief  desire. 

O,  change  thy  thought,  that  I  may  change  my  mind  ! 

Shall  hate  be  fairer  lodg'd  than  gentle  love  ? 

Be,  as  thy  presence  is,  gracious  and  kind, 

Or  to  thyself  at  least  kind-hearted  prove ; 
Make  thee  another  self,  for  love  of  me, 
That  beauty  still  may  live  in  thine  or  thee. 

XL 

As  fast  as  thou  shalt  wane,  so  fast  thou  growest 
In  one  of  thine,  from  that  which  thou  departest ; 
And  that  fresh  blood  which  youngly  thou  bestowest 
Thou  mayst  call  thine  when  thou  from  youth  convertest 
Herein  lives  wisdom,  beauty,  and  increase  ; 
Without  this,  folly,  age,  and  cold  decay. 
If  all  were  minded  so,  the  times  should  cease 
And  threescore  year  would  make  the  world  away. 
Let  those  whom  Nature  hath  not  made  for  store, 
Harsh,  featureless,  and  rude,  barrenly  perish. 
Look,  whom  she  best  endow'd  she  gave  the  more, 
Which  bounteous  gift  thou  shouldst  in  bounty  cherish  ; 
She  carv'd  thee  for  her  seal,  and  meant  thereby 
Thou  shouldst  print  more,  not  let  that  copy  die. 

XII. 

When  I  do  count  the  clock  that  tells  the  time, 
And  see  the  brave  day  sunk  in  hideous  night, 


$6  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

When  I  behold  the  violet  past  prime, 
And  sable  curls  all  silver'd  o'er  with  white, 
When  lofty  trees  I  see  barren  of  leaves 
Which  erst  from  heat  did  canopy  the  herd, 
And  summer's  green  all  girded  up  in  sheaves 
Borne  on  the  bier  with  white  and  bristly  beard, 
Then  of  thy  beauty  do  I  question  make, 
That  thou  among  the  wastes  of  time  must  go, 
Since  sweets  and  beauties  do  themselves  forsake 
And  die  as  fast  as  they  see  others  grow ; 

And  nothing  'gainst  Time's  scythe  can  make  defence 
Save  breed,  to  brave  him  when  he  takes  thee  hence. 

XIII. 

O,  that  you  were  yourself !  but,  love,  you  are 
No  longer  yours  than  you  yourself  here  live ; 
Against  this  coming  end  you  should  prepare, 
And  your  sweet  semblance  to  some  other  give. 
So  should  that  beauty  which  you  hold  in  lease 
Find  no  determination  ;  then  you  were 
Yourself  again  after  yourself's  decease, 
When  your  sweet  issue  your  sweet  form  should  bear, 
Who  lets  so  fair  a  house  fall  to  decay, 
Which  husbandry  in  honour  might  uphold 
Against  the  stormy  gusts  of  winter's  day 
And  barren  rage  of  death's  eternal  cold  ? 

O,  none  but  unthrifts  !      Dear  my  love,  you  know 
You  had  a  father  ;   let  your  son  say  so. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  57 

XIV. 

Not  from  the  stars  do  I  my  judgment  pluck*, 
And  yet  methinks  I  have  astronomy, 
But  not  to  tell  of  good  or  evil  luck, 
Of  plagues,  or  dearths,  or  seasons'  quality; 
Nor  can  I  fortune  to  brief  minutes  tell, 
Pointing  to  each  his  thunder,  rain,  and  wind, 
Or  say  with  princes  if  it  shall  go  well, 
By  oft  predict  that  I  in  heaven  find. 
But  from  thine  eyes  my  knowledge  I  derive, 
And,  constant  stars,  in  them  I  read  such  art 
As  truth  and  beauty  shall  together  thrive, 
If  from  thyself  to  store  thou  wouldst  convert; 
Or  else  of  thee  this  I  prognosticate,  — 
Thy  end  is  truth's  and  beauty's  doom  and  date. 

XV. 

When  I  consider  every  thing  that  grows 
Holds  in  perfection  but  a  little  moment, 
That  this  huge  stage  presenteth  nought  but  shows 
l> — Whereon  the  stars  in  secret  influence  comment; 
When  I  perceive  that  men  as  plants  increase, 
Cheered  and  check'd  even  by  the  selfsame  sky, 
Vaunt  in  their  youthful  sap,  at  height  decrease, 
And  wear  their  brave  state  out  of  memory  ; 
Then  the  conceit  of  this  inconstant  stay 
Sets  you  most  rich  in  youth  before  my  sight, 


58  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Where  wasteful  Time  debateth  with  Decay, 
To  change  your  day  of  youth  to  sullied  night, 
And  all  in  war  with  Time  for  love  of  you, 
As  he  takes  from  you,  I  engraft  you  new. 

XVI. 

But  wherefore  do  not  you  a  mightier  way 
Make  war  upon  this  bloody  tyrant,  Time  ? 
And  fortify  yourself  in  your  decay 
With  means  more  blessed  than  my  barren  rhyme  ? 
Now  stand  you  on  the  top  of  happy  hours, 
And  many  maiden  gardens  yet  unset 
With  virtuous  wish  would  bear  your  living  flowers, 
Much  liker  than  your  painted  counterfeit ; 
So  should  the  lines  of  life  that  life  repair 
Which  this  time's  pencil  or  my  pupil  pen, 
Neither  in  inward  worth  nor  outward  fair, 
Can  make  you  live  yourself  in  eyes  of  men. 
To  give  away  yourself  keeps  yourself  still, 
And  you  must  live,  drawn  by  your  own  sweet  skill. 

XVII.  ~v 

Who  will  believe  my  verse  in  time  to  come, 

If  it  were  fill'd  with  your  most  high  deserts? 

Though  yet,  heaven  knows,  it  is  but  as  a  tomb 

Which  hides  your  life  and  shows  not  half  your  parts. 

If  I  could  write  the  beauty  of  your  eyes 

And  in  fresh  numbers  number  all  your  graces, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  59 

The  age  to  come  would  say,  '  This  poet  lies ; 
Such  heavenly  touches  ne'er  touch'd  earthly  faces.' 
So  should  my  papers,  yellow'd  with  their  age, 
Be  scorn 'd  like  old  men  of  less  truth  than  tongue, 
And  your  true  rights  be  term'd  a  poet's  rage 
And  stretched  metre  of  an  antique  song ; 

But  were  some  child  of  yours  alive  that  time, 
You  should  live  twice,  —  in  it  and  in  my  rhyme. 

XVIII. 

Shall  I  compare  thee  to  a  summer's  day  ? 
Thou  art  more  lovely  and  more  temperate. 
Rough  winds  do  shake  the  darling  buds  of  May, 
And  summer's  lease  hath  all  too  short  a  date ; 
Sometime  too  hot  the  eye  of  heaven  shines, 
And  often  is  his  gold  complexion  dimm'd  ; 
And  every  fair  from  fair  sometime  declines, 
By  chance  or  nature's  changing  course  untrimm'd. 
But  thy  eternal  summer  shall  not  fade 
Nor  lose  possession  of  that  fair  thou  owest ; 
Nor  shall  Death  brag  thou  wander'st  in  his  shade, 
When  in  eternal  lines  to  time  thou  growest. 
So  long  as  men  can  breathe  or  eyes  can  see, 
So  long  lives  this,  and  this  gives  life  to  thee. 

XIX. 

Devouring  Time,  blunt  thou  the  lion's  paws, 
And  make  the  earth  devour  her  own  sweet  brood  ; 


60  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Pluck  the  keen  teeth  from  the  fierce  tiger's  jaws, 
And  burn  the  long-liv'd  phoenix  in  her  blood  ; 
Make  glad  and  sorry  seasons  as  thou  fleets, 
And  do  whate'er  thou  wilt,  swift-footed  Time, 
To  the  wide  world  and  all  her  fading  sweets  ; 
But  I  forbid  thee  one  most  heinous  crime  : 
O,  carve  not  with  thy  hours  my  love's  fair  brow, 
Nor  draw  no  lines  there  with  thine  antique  pen  ; 
Him  in  thy  course  untainted  do  allow 
For  beauty's  pattern  to  succeeding  men. 

Yet,  do  thy  worst,  old  Time  ;  despite  thy  wrongj 
My  love  shall  in  my  verse  ever  live  young. 

XX. 

A  woman's  face  with  Nature's  own  hand  painted 

Hast  thou,  the  master-mistress  of  my  passion  ; 

A  woman's  gentle  heart,  but  not  acquainted 

With  shifting  change,  as  is  false  women's  fashion ; 

An  eye  more  bright  than  theirs,  less  false  in  rolling, 

Gilding  the  object  whereupon  it  gazeth  ; 

A  man  in  hue,  all  hues  in  his  controlling, 

Which  steals  men's  eyes  and  women's  souls  amazeth. 

And  for  a  woman  wert  thou  first  created  ; 

Till  Nature,  as  she  wrought  thee,  fell  a-doting, 

And  by  addition  me  of  thee  defeated, 

By  adding  one  thing  to  my  purpose  nothing. 

But  since  she  prick'd  thee  out  for  women's  pleasure, 
Mine  be  thy  love,  and  thy  love's  use  their  treasure. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  61 

XXI. 

So  is  it  not  with  me  as  with  that  Muse, 

Stirr'd  by  a  painted  beauty  to  his  verse, 

Who  heaven  itself  for  ornament  doth  use 

And  every  fair  with  his  fair  doth  rehearse  ; 

Making  a  couplement  of  proud  compare, 

With  sun  and  moon,  with  earth  and  sea's  rich  gems. 

With  April's  first-born  flowers,  and  all  things  rare 

That  heaven's  air  in  this  huge  rondure  hems. 

O,  let  me,  true  in  love,  but  truly  write, 

And  then  believe  me,  my  love  is  as  fair 

As  any  mother's  child,  though  not  so  bright 

As  those  gold  candles  fix'd  in  heaven's  air. 

Let  them  say  more  that  like  of  hearsay  well ; 

I  will  not  praise  that  purpose  not  to  sell. 

XXII. 

My  glass  shall  not  persuade  me  I  am  old 
So  long  as  youth  and  thou  are  of  one  date  ; 
But  when  in  thee  time's  furrows  I  behold, 
Then  look  I  death  my  days  should  expiate. 
For  all  that  beauty  that  cloth  cover  thee 
Is  but  the  seemly  raiment  of  my  heart, 
Which  in  thy  breast  doth  live,  as  thine  in  me  ; 
Mow  can  I  then  be  elder  than  thou  art? 
(),  therefore,  love,  be  of  thyself  so  wary 
As  I,  not  for  myself,  but  for  thee  will ; 


61  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Bearing  thy  heart,  which  I  will  keep  so  chary 
As  tender  nurse  her  babe  from  faring  ill. 

Presume  not  on  thy  heart  when  mine  is  slaiw; 

Thou  gav'st  me  thine,  not  to  give  back  again. 

XXIII. 

As  an  unperfect  actor  on  the  stage, 
Who  with  his  fear  is  put  besides  his  part, 
Or  some  fierce  thing  replete  with  too  much  rag«», 
Whose  strength's  abundance  weakens  his  own  heart, 
So  I,  for  fear  of  trust,  forget  to  say 
The  perfect  ceremony  of  love's  rite, 
And  in  mine  own  love's  strength  seem  to  decay, 
O'ercharg'd  with  burden  of  mine  own  love's  might. 
O,  let  my  books  be  then  the  eloquence 
And  dumb  presagers  of  my  speaking  breast, 
Who  plead  for  love  and  look  for  recompense 
More  than  that  tongue  that  more  hath  more  express'd. 
O,  learn  to  read  what  silent  love  hath  writ  1 
To  hear  with  eyes  belongs  to  love's  fine  wit. 

XXIV. 

Mine  eye  hath  play'd  the  painter  and  hath  stell'd 

Thy  beauty's  form  in  table  of  my  heart ; 

My  body  is  the  frame  wherein  't  is  held, 

And  perspective  it  is  best  painter's  art. 

For  through  the  painter  must  you  see  his  skill, 

To  find  where  your  true  image  pictur'd  lies, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  63 

Which  in  my  bosom's  shop  is  hanging  still 
That  hath  his  windows  glazed  with  thine  eyes. 
Now  see  what  good  turns  eyes  for  eyes  have  done : 
Mine  eyes  have  drawn  thy  shape,  and  thine  for  me 
Are  windows  to  my  breast,  where  through  the  sun 
Delights  to  peep,  to  gaze  therein  on  thee  ; 

Yet  eyes  this  cunning  want  to  grace  their  art,  — 
They  draw  but  what  they  see,  know  not  the  heart 

XXV. 

Let  those  who  are  in  favour  with  their  stars 
Of  public  honour  and  proud  titles  boast, 
Whilst  I,  whom  fortune  of  such  triumph  bars, 
Unlook'd  for  joy  in  that  I  honour  most. 
Great  princes'  favourites  their  fair  leaves  spread 
But  as  the  marigold  at  the  sun's  eye, 
And  in  themselves  their  pride  lies  buried, 
For  at  a  frown  they  in  their  glory  die. 
The  painful  warrior  famoused  for  fight, 
After  a  thousand  victories  once  foil'd, 
Is  from  the  book  of  honour  razed  quite, 
And  all  the  rest  forgot  for  which  he  toil'd  ; 
Then  happy  I,  that  love  and  am  belov'd 
Where  I  may  not  remove  nor  be  remov'd. 

XXVI. 

Lord  of  my  love,  to  whom  in  vassalage 
Thy  merit  hath  my  duty  strongly  knit, 


64  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

To  thee  I  send  this  written  embassage, 

To  witness  duty,  not  to  show  my  wit ; 

Duty  so  great  which  wit  so  poor  as  mine 

May  make  seem  bare,  in  wanting  words  to  show  it, 

But  that  I  hope  some  good  conceit  of  thine 

In  thy  soul's  thought,  all  naked,  will  bestow  it, 

Till  whatsoever  star  that  guides  my  moving 

Points  on  me  graciously  with  fair  aspect, 

And  puts  apparel  on  my  tatter'd  loving, 

To  show  me  worthy  of  thy  sweet  respect. 

Then  may  I  dare  to  boast  how  I  do  love  thee ; 

Till  then  not  show  my  head  where  thou  mayst  prove 
me. 

XXVII. 

Weary  with  toil,  I  haste  me  to  my  bed, 

The  dear  repose  for  limbs  with  travel  tir'd, 

But  then  begins  a  journey  in  my  head, 

To  work  my  mind  when  body's  work  's  expir'd  j 

For  then  my  thoughts,  from  far  where  I  abide, 

Intend  a  zealous  pilgrimage  to  thee, 

And  keep  my  drooping  eyelids  open  wide, 

Looking  on  darkness  which  the  blind  do  see; 

Save  that  my  soul's  imaginary  sight 

Presents  thy  shadow  to  my  sightless  view, 

Which,  like  a  jewel  hung  in  ghastly  night, 

Makes  black  night  beauteous  and  her  old  face  new. 

Lo  !   thus,  by  day  my  limbs,  by  night  my  mind, 

For  thee  and  for  myself  no  quiet  find. 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  65 

XXVIII. 

How  can  I  then  return  in  happy  plight, 
That  am  debarr'd  the  benefit  of  rest  ? 
When  day's  oppression  is  not  eas'd  by  night, 
But  day  by  night,  and  night  by  day,  oppress'd  r 
And  each,  though  enemies  to  either's  reign, 
Do  in  consent  shake  hands  to  torture  me ; 
The  one  by  toil,  the  other  to  complain 
How  far  I  toil,  still  farther  off  from  thee. 
I  tell  the  day,  to  please  him  thou  art  bright 
And  dost  him  grace  when  clouds  do  blot  the  heaven  ; 
So  flatter  I  the  swart-complexion'd  night, 
When  sparkling  stars  twire  not  thou  gild'st  the  even. 
But  day  doth  daily  draw  my  sorrows  longer, 
And  night  doth  nightly  make  grief's  strength  seeir 
stronger. 

XXIX. 

When,  in  disgrace  with  fortune  and  men's  eyes5 

1  all  alone  beweep  my  outcast  state, 

And  trouble  deaf  heaven  with  my  bootless  cries, 

And  look  upon  myself  and  curse  my  fate, 

Wishing  me  like  to  one  more  rich  in  hope, 

Featur'd  like  him.  like  him  with  friends  possess'd, 

Desiring  this  man's  art  and  that  man's  scope, 

With  what  I  most  enjoy  contented  least ; 

Vet  in  these  thoughts  myself  almost  despising 

Haply  1  think  on  thee,  and  then  my  state, 

aHAKESPKAKK'a    Si  INNKI  a  —  s 


66  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

Like  to  the  lark  at  break  of  day  arising 
From  sullen  earth,  sings  hymns  at  heaven's  gate  ; 
For  thy  sweet  love  remember'd  such  wealth  brings 
That  then  I  scorn  to  change  my  state  with  kings. 

XXX. 

When  to  the  sessions  of  sweet  silent  thought 

I  summon  up  remembrance  of  things  past, 

I  sigh  the  lack  of  many  a  thing  I  sought, 

And  with  old  woes  new  wail  my  dear  time's  waste. 

Then  can  I  drown  an  eye,  unus'd  to  flow, 

For  precious  friends  hid  in  death's  dateless  night, 

And  weep  afresh  love's  long  since  cancell'd  woe, 

And  moan  the  expense  of  many  a  vanish'd  sight. 

Then  can  I  grieve  at  grievances  foregone, 

And  heavily  from  woe  to  woe  tell  o'er 

The  sad  account  of  fore-bemoaned  moan, 

Which  I  new  pay  as  if  not  paid  before. 

But  if  the  while  I  think  on  thee,  dear  friend, 
All  losses  are  restor'd  and  sorrows  end. 

XXXI. 

Thy  bosom  is  endeared  with  all  hearts 

Which  I  by  lacking  have  supposed  dead, 

And  there  reigns  love  and  all  love's  loving  parts, 

And  all  those  friends  which  I  thought  buried. 

How  many  a  holy  and  obsequious  tear 

Hath  dear  religious  love  stolen  from  mine  eye 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  67 

As  interest  of  the  dead,  which  now  appear 
But  things  remov'd  that  hidden  in  thee  lie ! 
Thou  art  the  grave  where  buried  love  doth  live, 
Hung  with  the  trophies  of  my  lovers  gone, 
Who  all  their  parts  of  me  to  thee  did  give, 
That  due  of  many  now  is  thine  alone  ; 
Their  images  I  lov'd  I  view  in  thee, 
And  thou,  all  they,  hast  all  the  all  of  me. 

XXXII. 

If  thou  survive  my  well-contented  day, 
When  that  churl  Death  my  bones  with  dust  shall  cover, 
And  shalt  by  fortune  once  more  re-survey 
These  poor  rude  lines  of  thy  deceased  lover, 
Compare  them  with  the  bettering  of  the  time, 
And  though  they  be  outstripp'd  by  every  pen, 
Reserve  them  for  my  love,  not  for  their  rhyme, 
Exceeded  by  the  height  of  happier  men. 
O,  then  vouchsafe  me  but  this  loving  thought : 
'  Had  my  friend's  Muse  grown  with  this  growing  age. 
A  dearer  birth  than  this  his  love  had  brought, 
To  march  in  ranks  of  better  equipage  ; 
But  since  he  died  and  poets  better  prove, 
Theirs  for  their  style  I  '11  read,  his  for  his  love.; 

XXXIII. 

Full  many  a  glorious  morning  have  I  seen 
Flatter  the  mountain-tops  with  sovereign  eye, 


68  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Kissing  with  golden  face  the  meadows  green, 

Gilding  pale  streams  with  heavenly  alchemy, 

Anon  permit  the  basest  clouds  to  ride 

With  ugly  rack  on  his  celestial  face, 

And  from  the  forlorn  world  his  visage  hideF 

Stealing  unseen  to  west  with  this  disgrace. 

Even  so  my  sun  one  early  morn  did  shine 

With  all-triumphant  splendour  on  my  brow; 

But  out,  alack  !  he  was  but  one  hour  mine, 

The  region  cloud  hath  mask'd  him  from  me  now, 

Yet  him  for  this  my  love  no  whit  disdaineth  ; 

Suns  of  the  world  may  stain  when  heaven's  sr 
staineth. 

XXXIV. 

Why  didst  thou  promise  such  a  beauteous  day 

And  make  me  travel  forth  without  my  cloak, 

To  let  base  clouds  o'ertake  me  in  my  way, 

Hiding  thy  bravery  in  their  rotten  smoke? 

'T  is  not  enough  that  through  the  cloud  thou  break, 

To  dry  the  rain  on  my  storm-beaten  face, 

For  no  man  well  of  such  a  salve  can  speak 

That  heals  the  wound  and  cures  not  the  disgrace. 

Nor  can  thy  shame  give  physic  to  my  grief  ; 

Though  thou  repent,  yet  I  have  still  the  loss. 

The  offender's  sorrow  lends  but  weak  relief 

To  him  that  bears  the  strong  offence's  cross 

Ah  !  but  those  tears  are  pearl  which  thy  love  shed; 

\nd  they  are  rich  and  ransom  all  ill  deeds. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  69 

XXXV. 

No  more  be  griev'd  at  that  which  thou  hast  done ; 
Roses  have  thorns  and  silver  fountains  mud, 
Clouds  and  eclipses  stain  both  moon  and  sun, 
And  loathsome  canker  lives  in  sweetest  bud. 
All  men  make  faults,  and  even  I  in  this, 
Authorizing  thy  trespass  with  compare, 
Myself  corrupting,  salving  thy  amiss, 
Excusing  thy  sins  more  than  thy  sins  are; 
For  to  thy  sensual  fault  I  bring  in  sense  — 
Thy  adverse  party  is  thy  advocate  — 
And  'gainst  myself  a  lawful  plea  commence. 
Such  civil  war  is  in  my  love  and  hate 
That  I  an  accessary  needs  must  be 
To  that  sweet  thief  which  sourly  robs  from  me. 

XXXVI. 

Let  me  confess  that  we  two  must  be  twain, 

Although  our  undivided  loves  are  one; 

So  shall  those  blots  that  do  with  me  remain 

Without  thy  help  by  me  be  borne  alone. 

In  our  two  loves  there  is  but  one  respect, 

Though  in  our  lives  a  separable  spite. 

Which  though  it  alter  not  love's  sole  effect, 

Vet  doth  it  steal  sweet  hours  from  love's  delight. 

I  may  not  evermore  acknowledge  thee. 

Lest  inv  bewailed  guilt  should  do  thee  shame, 


70  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Nor  thou  with  public  kindness  honour  me, 
Unless  thou  take  that  honour  from  thy  name. 
But  do  not  so  ;  I  love  thee  in  such  sort 
As,  thou  being  mine,  mine  is  thy  good  report. 

XXXVII. 

As  a  decrepit  father  takes  delight 

To  see  his  active  child  do  deeds  of  youth, 

So  I,  made  lame  by  fortune's  dearest  spite, 

Take  all  my  comfort  of  thy  worth  and  truth ; 

For  whether  beauty,  birth,  or  wealth,  or  wit, 

Or  any  of  these  all,  or  all,  or  more, 

Entitled  in  thy  parts  do  crowned  sit, 

I  make  my  love  engrafted  to  this  store. 

So  then  I  am  not  lame,  poor,  nor  despis'd, 

Whilst  that  this  shadow  doth  such  substance  give 

That  I  in  thy  abundance  am  suffic'd 

And  by  a  part  of  all  thy  glory  live. 

Look,  what  is  best,  that  best  I  wish  in  thee ; 

This  wish  I  have,  then  ten  times  happy  me  1 

XXXVIII. 

How  can  my  Muse  want  subject  to  invent, 

While  thou  dost  breathe  that  pour'st  into  my  verse 

Thine  own  sweet  argument,  too  excellent 

For  every  vulgar  paper  to  rehearse  ? 

O,  give  thyself  the  thanks  if  aught  in  me 

Worthy  perusal  stand  against  thy  sight ; 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  71 

For  who  's  so  dumb  that  cannot  write  to  thee, 
When  thou  thyself  dost  give  invention  light  ? 
Be  thou  the  tenth  Muse,  ten  times  more  in  worth 
Than  those  old  nine  which  rhymers  invocate ; 
And  he  that  calls  on  thee,  let  him  bring  forth 
Eternal  numbers  to  outlive  long  date. 

If  my  slight  Muse  do  please  these  curious  days, 
The  pain  be  mine,  but  thine  shall  be  the  praise. 

XXXIX. 

O,  how  thy  worth  with  manners  may  I  sing 
When  thou  art  all  the  better  part  of  me  ? 
What  can  mine  own  praise  to  mine  own  self  bring  ? 
And  what  is  't  but  mine  own  when  I  praise  thee  ? 
Even  for  this  let  us  divided  live, 
And  our  dear  love  lose  name  of  single  one, 
That  by  this  separation  I  may  give 
That  due  to  thee  which  thou  deserv'st  alone. 
O  absence,  what  a  torment  wouldst  thou  prove, 
Were  it  not  thy  sour  leisure  gave  sweet  leave 
To  entertain  the  time  with  thoughts  of  love, 
Which  time  and  thoughts  so  sweetly  doth  deceive, 
And  that  thou  teachest  how  to  make  one  twain 
By  praising  him  here  who  doth  hence  remain  ! 

XL. 

Take  all  my  loves,  my  love,  yea,  take  them  all  ; 
What  hast  thou  then  more  than  thou  hadst  before  ? 


72  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

No  love,  my  love,  that  thou  mayst  true  love  call ; 
All  mine  was  thine  before  thou  hadst  this  more. 
Then  if  for  my  love  thou  my  love  receivest, 
I  cannot  blame  thee  for  my  love  thou  usest : 
But  yet  be  blam'd,  if  thou  thyself  deceivest 
By  wilful  taste  of  what  thyself  refusest. 
I  do  forgive  thy  robbery,  gentle  thief, 
Although  thou  steal  thee  all  my  poverty ; 
And  yet,  love  knows,  it  is  a  greater  grief 
To  bear  love's  wrong  than  hate's  known  injury 

Lascivious  grace,  in  whom  all  ill  well  shows; 

Kill  me  with  spites  ;  yet  we  must  not  be  foes, 

XLI. 

Those  pretty  wrongs  that  liberty  commits. 
When  I  am  sometime  absent  from  thy  heart. 
Thy  beauty  and  thy  years  full  well  befits. 
For  still  temptation  follows  where  thou  art. 
Gentle  thou  art  and  therefore  to  be  won. 
Beauteous  thou  art,  therefore  to  be  assaihd  ; 
And  when  a  woman  wooes  what  woman's  son 
Will  sourly  leave  her  till  she  have  prevail'd  ? 
Ay  me  !  but  yet  thou  mightst  my  seat  forbear, 
And  chide  thy  beauty  and  thy  straying  youth, 
Who  lead  thee  in  their  riot  even  there 
Where  thou  art  forc'd  to  break  a  twofold  truth, — 
Hers,  by  thy  beauty  tempting  her  to  thee, 
Thine,  by  thy  beauty  being  false  to  me. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  73 


XLIL 

That  thou  hast  her,  it  is  not  all  my  grief. 

And  yet  it  may  be  said  I  lov'd  her  dearly ; 

That  she  hath  thee  is  of  my  wailing  chief, 

A  loss  in  love  that  touches  me  more  nearly. 

Loving  offenders,  thus  I  will  excuse  ye  : 

Thou  dost  love  her  because  thou  know'st  I  love  her  , 

And  for  my  sake  even  so  doth  she  abuse  me, 

Suffering  my  friend  for  my  sake  to  approve  her. 

If  I  lose  thee,  my  loss  is  my  love's  gain, 

And  losing  her,  my  friend  hath  found  that  loss  ; 

Both  find  each  other,  and  I  lose  both  twain, 

And  both  for  my  sake  lay  on  me  this  cross. 

Rut  here's  the  joy  :  my  friend  and  I  are  one  ; 

Sweet  flattery  1  then  she  loves  but  me  alone 

XLIII. 

\Vhen  most  I  wink,  then  do  mine  eyes  best  see. 
For  all  the  clay  they  view  things  unrespectcd  ; 
but  when  I  sleep,  in  dreams  they  look  on  thees 
And  darkly  bright  are  bright  in  dark  directed. 
Then  thou,  whose  shadow  shadows  doth  make  bright. 
How  would  thy  shadow's  form  form  happy  show 
To  the  clear  day  with  thy  much  clearer  light, 
When  to  unseeing  eyes  tin  shade  shinty  so! 
How  would,  1  say,  mine  eyes  hi-  blessed  made 
l'v  looking  on  thee  in  the  living  day, 


74  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

When  in  dead  night  thy  fair  imperfect  shade 
Through  heavy  sleep  on  sightless  eyes  doth  stay! 
All  days  are  nights  to  see  till  I  see  thee, 
And  nights  bright  days  when  dreams  do  show  thee 
me. 

XLIV. 

If  the  dull  substance  of  my  flesh  were  thought, 
Injurious  distance  should  not  stop  my  way ; 
For  then  despite  of  space  I  would  be  brought, 
From  limits  far  remote,  where  thou  dost  stay. 
No  matter  then  although  my  foot  did  stand 
Upon  the  farthest  earth  remov'd  from  thee  ; 
For  nimble  thought  can  jump  both  sea  and  land 
As  soon  as  think  the  place  where  he  would  be. 
But,  ah  !  thought  kills  me  that  I  am  not  thought, 
To  leap  large  lengths  of  miles  when  thou  art  gone, 
But  that,  so  much  of  earth  and  water  wrought, 
I  must  attend  time's  leisure  with  my  moan, 
Receiving  nought  by  elements  so  slow 
But  heavy  tears,  badges  of  either's  woe. 

XLV. 

The  other  two,  slight  air  and  purging  fire, 
Are  both  with  thee,  wherever  I  abide  ; 
The  first  my  thought,  the  other  my  desire, 
These  present  absent  with  swift  motion  slide 
For  when  these  quicker  elements  are  gone 
In  tender  embassy  of  love  to  thee, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  75 

My  life,  being  made  of  four,  with  two  alone 
Sinks  down  to  death,  oppress'd  with  melancholy; 
Until  life's  composition  be  recur'd 
By  those  swift  messengers  return 'd  from  thee, 
Who  even  but  now  come  back  again,  assur'd 
Of  thy  fair  health,  recounting  it  to  me. 

This  told,  I  joy;  but  then,  no  longer  glad, 

I  send  them  back  again,  and  straight  grow  sad. 

XLVI. 

Mine  eye  and  heart  are  at  a  mortal  war 

How  to  divide  the  conquest  of  thy  sight ; 

Mine  eye  my  heart  thy  picture's  sight  would  bar, 

My  heart  mine  eye  the  freedom  of  that  right. 

My  heart  cloth  plead  that  thou  in  him  dost  lie,— 

A  closet  never  pierc'd  with  crystal  eyes,  — 

But  the  defendant  doth  that  plea  deny, 

And  says  in  him  thy  fair  appearance  lies. 

To  'cide  this  title  is  impanelled 

A  quest  of  thoughts,  all  tenants  to  the  heart, 

And  by  their  verdict  is  determined 

The  clear  eye's  moiety  and  the  dear  heart's  part; 
As  thus  :   mine  eye's  due  is  thy  outward  part, 
And  my  heart's  right  thy  inward  love  of  heart. 

XLVI  I. 

Betwixt  mine  eye  and  heart  a  league  is  took, 
And  each  doth  £ood  turns  now  unto  the  other. 


y6  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

When  that  mine  eye  is  famish 'd  for  a  look, 
Or  heart  in  love  with  sighs  himself  doth  smother, 
With  my  love's  picture  then  my  eye  doth  feast 
And  to  the  painted  banquet  bids  my  heart ; 
Another  time  mine  eye  is  my  heart's  guest 
And  in  his  thoughts  of  love  doth  share  a  part. 
So,  either  by  thy  picture  or  my  love, 
Thyself  away  art  present  still  with  me  ; 
For  thou  not  farther  than  my  thoughts  canst  move; 
And  I  am  still  with  them  and  they  with  thee, 
Or,  if  they  sleep,  thy  picture  in  my  sight 
Awakes  my  heart  to  heart's  and  eye's  delight. 

XLVIII. 

How  careful  was  I,  when  I  took  my  way, 
Each  trifle  under  truest  bars  to  thrust, 
That  to  my  use  it  might  unused  stay 
From  hands  of  falsehood,  in  sure  wards  of  trust  1 
But  thou,  to  whom  my  jewels  trifles  are, 
Most  worthy  comfort,  now  my  greatest  grief, 
Thou,  best  of  dearest  and  mine  only  care, 
Art  left  the  prey  of  every  vulgar  thief. 
Thee  have  I  not  lock'd  up  in  any  chest, 
Save  where  thou  art  not,  though  I  feel  thou  art, 
Within  the  gentle  closure  of  my  breast, 
From  whence  at  pleasure  thou  mayst  come  and  part 
And  even  thence  thou  wilt  be  stolen,  I  fear, 
For  truth  proves  thievish  for  a  prize  sc  dear. 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  77 

XLIX. 

Against  that  time,  if  ever  that  time  come, 
When  I  shall  see  thee  frown  on  my  defects, 
Whenas  thy  love  hath  cast  his  utmost  sum, 
Call'd  to  that  audit  by  advis'd  respects  ; 
Against  that  time  when  thou  shalt  strangely  pass 
And  scarcely  greet  me  with  that  sun,  thine  eye, 
When  love,  converted  from  the  thing  it  was, 
Shall  reasons  find  of  settled  gravity, — 
Against  that  time  do  I  ensconce  me  here 
Within  the  knowledge  of  mine  own  desert, 
And  this  my  hand  against  myself  uprear, 
To  guard  the  lawful  reasons  on  thy  part : 

To  leave  poor  me  thou  hast  the  strength  of  laws, 
Since  why  to  love  I  can  allege  no  cause. 

L. 

How  heavy  do  I  journey  on  the  way, 

When  what  I  seek,  my  weary  travel's  end, 

Doth  teach  that  ease  and  that  repose  to  say, 

'  Thus  far  the  miles  arc  measur'd  from  thy  friend  1  ' 

The  beast  that  bears  me,  tired  with  my  woe, 

Plods  dully  on.  to  bear  that  weight  in  me, 

As  if  by  some  instinct  the  wretch  did  know 

His  rider  lov'd  not  speed,  being  made  from  thee. 

The  bloody  spur  cannot  provoke  him  on 

That  sometimes  anger  thrusts  into  his  hide, 


8  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Which  heavily  he  answers  with  a  groan, 
More  sharp  to  me  than  spurring  to  his  side  ; 

For  that  same  groan  doth  put  this  in  my  mind,  — ■ 
My  grief  lies  onward  and  my  joy  behind. 

LI. 

Thus  can  my  love  excuse  the  slow  offence 
Of  my  dull  bearer  when  from  thee  I  speed  : 
From  where  thou  art  why  should  I  haste  me  thence  ? 
Till  I  return,  of  posting  is  no  need. 
O,  what  excuse  will  my  poor  beast  then  find, 
When  swift  extremity  can  seem  but  slow  ? 
Then  should  I  spur,  though  mounted  on  the  wind  ; 
In  winged  speed  no  motion  shall  I  know. 
Then  can  no  horse  with  my  desire  keep  pace  ; 
Therefore  desire,  of  perfect'st  love  being  made, 
Shall  neigh  —  no  dull  flesh  —  in  his  fiery  race  ; 
But  love,  for  love,  thus  shall  excuse  my  jade  : 
Since  from  thee  going  he  went  wilful-slow, 
Towards  thee  I  '11  run,  and  give  him  leave  to  go. 

LII. 

So  am  I  as  the  rich,  whose  blessed  key 
Can  bring  him  to  his  sweet  up-locked  treasure, 
The  which  he  will  not  every  hour  survey, 
For  blunting  the  fine  point  of  seldom  pleasure. 
Therefore  are  feasts  so  solemn  and  so  rare, 
Since,  seldom  coming,  in  the  long  year  set, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  79 

Like  stones  of  worth  they  thinly  placed  are, 
Or  captain  jewels  in  the  carcanet. 
So  is  the  time  that  keeps  you  as  my  chest, 
Or  as  the  wardrobe  which  the  robe  doth  hide, 
To  make  some  special  instant  special  blest 
By  new  unfolding  his  imprison'd  pride. 

Blessed  are  you  whose  worthiness  gives  scope, 
Being  had,  to  triumph,  being  lack'd,  to  hope. 

LIII. 

What  is  your  substance,  whereof  are  you  made, 
That  millions  of  strange  shadows  on  you  tend  ? 
Since  every  one  hath,  every  one,  one  shade, 
And  you,  but  one,  can  every  shadow  lend. 
Describe  Adonis,  and  the  counterfeit 
Is  poorly  imitated  after  you  ; 
On  Helen's  cheek  all  art  of  beauty  set, 
And  you  in  Grecian  tires  are  painted  new. 
Speak  of  the  spring  and  foison  of  the  year, 
The  one  doth  shadow  of  your  beauty  show, 
The  other  as  your  bounty  cloth  appear ; 
And  you  in  every  blessed  shape  we  know. 
In  all  external  grace  you  have  some  part, 
But  you  like  none,  none  you.  for  constant  heart, 

LIV. 

O,  how  much  more  doth  beauty  beauteous  seem 
By  that  sweet  ornament  which  truth  doth  give  ! 


80  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

The  rose  looks  fair,  but  fairer  we  it  deem 
For  that  sweet  odour  which  doth  in  it  live. 
The  canker-blooms  have  full  as  deep  a  dye 
As  the  perfumed  tincture  of  the  roses, 
Hang  on  such  thorns,  and  play  as  wantonly 
When  summer's  breath  their  masked  buds  discloses  ; 
But,  for  their  virtue  only  is  their  show, 
They  live  unwoo'd  and  unrespected  fade, 
Die  to  themselves.     Sweet  roses  do  not  so ; 
Of  their  sweet  deaths  are  sweetest  odours  made. 
And  so  of  you,  beauteous  and  lovely  youth, 
When  that  shall  vade,  my  verse  distills  your  truth. 

LV. 

Not  marble,  nor  the  gilded  monuments 

Of  princes,  shall  outlive  this  powerful  rhyme  ; 

But  you  shall  shine  more  bright  in  these  contents 

Than  unswept  stone  besmear'd  with  sluttish  time. 

When  wasteful  war  shall  statues  overturn, 

And  broils  root  out  the  work  of  masonry, 

Nor  Mars  his  sword  nor  war's  quick  fire  shall  burn 

The  living  record  of  your  memory. 

'Gainst  death  and  all-oblivious  enmity 

Shall  you  pace  forth  ;  your  praise  shall  still  find  room 

Even  in  the  eyes  of  all  posterity 

That  wear  this  world  out  to  the  ending  doom. 

So,  till  the  judgment  that  yourself  arise. 

You  live  in  this,  and  dwell  in  lovers'  eyes. 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  81 

LVI. 

Sweet  love,  renew  thy  force  ;  be  it  not  said 
Thy  edge  should  blunter  be  than  appetite, 
Which  but  to-day  by  feeding  is  allay'd, 
To-morrow  sharpen'd  in  his  former  might. 
So,  love,  be  thou  ;  although  to-day  thou  fill 
Thy  hungry  eyes  even  till  they  wink  with  fullness, 
To-morrow  see  again,  and  do  not  kill 
The  spirit  of  love  with  a  perpetual  dullness. 
Let  this  sad  interim  like  the  ocean  be 
Which  parts  the  shore  where  two  contracted  new 
Come  daily  to  the  banks,  that,  when  they  see 
Return  of  love,  more  blest  may  be  the  view  ; 
Else  call  it  winter,  which  being  full  of  care 
Makes  summer's  welcome  thrice  more  wish'd,  more 
rare. 

LVII. 

Being  your  slave,  what  should  I  do  but  tend 
Upon  the  hours  and  times  of  your  desire  ? 
I  have  no  precious  time  at  all  to  spend, 
Nor  services  to  do,  till  you  require. 
Nor  dare  1  chide  the  world-without-end  hour 
Whilst  I,  my  sovereign,  watch  the  clock  for  you, 
Nor  think  the  bitterness  of  absence  sour 
When  you  have  bid  your  servant  once  adieu  ; 
Nor  dare  I  question  with  my  jealous  thought 
Where  you  may  be,  or  your  affairs  suppose, 

SHAKKSI'EAKt'i    SuNNK  IS  —  6 


82  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

But,  like  a  sad  slave,  stay  and  think  of  nought 
Save,  where  you  are  how  happy  you  make  those. 
So  true  a  fool  is  love  that  in  your  will, 
Though  you  do  any  thing,  he  thinks  no  ill. 

LVIII. 

That  god  forbid  that  made  me  first  your  slave, 

I  should  in  thought  control  your  times  of  pleasure. 

Or  at  your  hand  the  account  of  hours  to  crave, 

Being  your  vassal,  bound  to  stay  your  leisure  ! 

O,  let  me  suffer,  being  at  your  beck, 

The  imprison 'd  absence  of  your  liberty; 

And  patience,  tame  to  sufferance,  bide  each  check, 

Without  accusing  you  of  injury  ! 

Be  where  you  list,  your  charter  is  so  strong 

That  you  yourself  may  privilege  your  time 

To  what  you  will  ;  to  you  it  doth  belong 

Yourself  to  pardon  of  self-doing  crime. 

I  am  to  wait,  though  waiting  so  be  hell ; 

Not  blame  your  pleasure,  be  it  ill  or  well, 

LIX. 

If  there  be  nothing  new,  but  that  which  is 
Hath  been  before,  how  are  our  brains  beguil'd, 
Which,  labouring  for  invention,  bear  amiss 
The  second  burthen  of  a  former  child  ! 
O,  that  record  could  with  a  backward  look, 
F.ven  of  five  hundred  courses  of  the  sun, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  83 

Show  me  your  image  in  some  antique  book, 
Since  mind  at  first  in  character  was  done  ! 
That  I  might  see  what  the  old  world  could  say 
To  this  composed  wonder  of  your  frame  ; 
Whether  we  are  mended,  or  whether  better  they, 
Or  whether  revolution  be  the  same. 
O,  sure  I  am,  the  wits  of  former  days 
To  subjects  worse  have  given  admiring  praise. 

LX. 

Like  as  the  waves  make  towards  the  pebbled  shore, 
So  do  our  minutes  hasten  to  their  end  ; 
Each  changing  place  with  that  which  goes  before, 
In  sequent  toil  all  forwards  do  contend. 
Nativity,  once  in  the  main  of  light, 
Crawls  to  maturity,  wherewith  being  crown'd, 
Crooked  eclipses  'gainst  his  glory  fight, 
And  Time  that  gave  doth  now  his  gift  confound. 
Time  doth  transfix  the  flourish  set  on  youth 
And  delves  the  parallels  in  beauty's  brow, 
Feeds  on  the  rarities  of  nature's  truth, 
And  nothing  stands  but  for  his  scythe  to  mow ; 
And  yet  to  times  in  hope  my  verse  shall  stand, 
Praising  thy  worth,  despite  his  cruel  hand. 

LXT. 

Is  it  thy  will  thy  image  should  keep  open 
My  heavy  eyelids  to  the  weary  night  ? 


84  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Dost  thou  desire  my  slumbers  should  be  broken, 
While  shadows  like  to  thee  do  mock  my  sight  ? 
Is  it  thy  spirit  that  thou  send'st  from  thee 
So  far  from  home  into  my  deeds  to  pry, 
To  find  out  shames  and  idle  hours  in  me, 
The  scope  and  tenor  of  thy  jealousy  ? 
O,  no !  thy  love,  though  much,  is  not  so  great: 
It  is  my  love  that  keeps  mine  eye  awake  ; 
Mine  own  true  love  that  doth  my  rest  defeat, 
To  play  the  watchman  ever  for  thy  sake. 

For  thee  watch  I  whilst  thou  dost  wake  elsewhere, 
From  me  far  off,  with  others  all  too  near. 

LXII. 

Sin  of  self-love  possesseth  all  mine  eye 
And  all  my  soul  and  all  my  every  part ; 
And  for  this  sin  there  is  no  remedy, 
It  is  so  grounded  inward  in  my  heart. 
Methinks  no  face  so  gracious  is  as  mine, 
No  shape  so  true,  no  truth  of  such  account, 
And  for  myself  mine  own  worth  do  define, 
As  I  all  other  in  all  worths  surmount. 
But  when  my  glass  shows  me  myself  indeed, 
Bated  and  chopp'd  with  tann'd  antiquity, 
Mine  own  self-love  quite  contrary  I  read  ; 
Self  so  self-loving  were  iniquity. 

'T  is  thee,  myself,  that  for  myself  I  praise, 
Painting  my  age  with  beauty  of  thy  days. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  85 


LXIII. 

Against  my  love  shall  be,  as  I  am  now, 
With  Time's  injurious  hand  crush'd  and  o'erworn, 
When  hours  have  drain'd  his  blood  and  fill'd  his  brow 
With  lines  and  wrinkles,  when  his  youthful  morn 
Hath  travell'd  on  to  age's  steepy  night, 
And  all  those  beauties  whereof  now  he  's  king 
Are  vanishing  or  vanish'd  out  of  sight, 
Stealing  away  the  treasure  of  his  spring  — 
For  such  a  time  do  I  now  fortify 
Against  confounding  age's  cruel  knife, 
That  he  shall  never  cut  from  memory 
My  sweet  love's  beauty,  though  my  lover's  life  ; 
His  beauty  shall  in  these  black  lines  be  seen, 
And  they  shall  live,  and  he  in  them  still  green. 

LXIV. 

When  I  have  seen  by  Time's  fell  hand  defac'd 
The  rich  proud  cost  of  outworn  buried  age, 
When  sometime  lofty  towers  I  see  down-ras'd 
And  brass  eternal  slave  to  mortal  rage, 
When  I  have  seen  the  hungry  ocean  gain 
Advantage  on  the  kingdom  of  the  shore, 
And  the  firm  soil  win  of  the  watery  main, 
Increasing  store  with  loss  and  loss  with  store, — 
When  I  have  seen  such  interchange  of  state, 
Or  state  itself  confounded  to  decay, 


86  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Ruin  hath  taught  me  thus  to  ruminate, 
That  Time  will  come  and  take  my  love  away. 

This  thought  is  as  a  death,  which  cannot  choose 
But  weep  to  have  that  which  it  fears  to  lose. 

LXV. 

Since  brass,  nor  stone,  nor  earth,  nor  boundless  sea, 
But  sad  mortality  o'er-sways  their  power, 
How  with  this  rage  shall  beauty  hold  a  plea, 
Whose  action  is  no  stronger  than  a  flower  ? 
O,  how  shall  summer's  honey  breath  hold  out 
Against  the  wrackful  siege  of  battering  days, 
When  rocks  impregnable  are  not  so  stout, 
Nor  gates  of  steel  so  strong,  but  Time  decays  ? 
O  fearful  meditation  !  where,  alack, 
Shall  Time's  best  jewel  from  Time's  chest  lie  hid  ? 
Or  what  strong  hand  can  hold  his  swift  foot  back  ? 
Or  who  his  spoil  of  beauty  can  forbid  ? 
O,  none,  unless  this  miracle  have  might, 
That  in  black  ink  my  love  may  still  shine  bright 

LXVI. 

Tir'd  with  all  these,  for  restful  death  I  cry,  — 
As,  to  behold  desert  a  beggar  born, 
And  needy  nothing  trimm'd  in  jollity, 
And  purest  faith  unhappily  forsworn, 
And  gilded  honour  shamefully  misplac'd, 
And  maiden  virtue  rudely  strumpeted, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  87 

And  right  perfection  wrongfully  disgrac'd, 

And  strength  by  limping  sway  disabled, 

And  art  made  tongue-tied  by  authority, 

And  folly  doctor-like  controlling  skill, 

And  simple  truth  miscall'd  simplicity, 

And  captive  good  attending  captain  ill ; 

Tir'd  with  all  these,  from  these  would  I  be  gone, 
Save  that,  to  die,  I  leave  my  love  alone. 

LXVII. 

Ah  !  wherefore  with  infection  should  he  live, 

And  with  his  presence  grace  impiety, 

That  sin  by  him  advantage  should  achieve 

And  lace  itself  with  his  society  ? 

Why  should  false  painting  imitate  his  cheek, 

And  steal  dead  seeing  of  his  living  hue  ? 

Why  should  poor  beauty  indirectly  seek 

Roses  of  shadow,  since  his  rose  is  true  ? 

Why  should  he  live,  now  Nature  bankrupt  is, 

Beggar'd  of  blood  to  blush  through  lively  veins  ? 

For  she  hath  no  exchequer  now  but  his, 

And,  proud  of  many,  lives  upon  his  gains. 

O,  him  she  stores,  to  show  what  wealth  she  had 
In  days  long  since,  before  these  last  so  bad  I 

LXVII  I. 

Thus  is  his  cheek  the  map  of  days  outworn, 
When  beauty  liv'd  and  died  as  flowers  do  now, 


88  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Before  these  bastard  signs  of  fair  were  born, 

Or  durst  inhabit  on  a  living  brow  ; 

Before  the  golden  tresses  of  the  dead, 

The  right  of  sepulchres,  were  shorn  away, 

To  live  a  second  life  on  second  head  ; 

Ere  beauty's  dead  fleece  made  another  gay. 

In  him  those  holy  antique  hours  are  seen, 

Without  all  ornament,  itself  and  true, 

Making  no  summer  of  another's  green, 

Robbing  no  old  to  dress  his  beauty  new ; 
And  him  as  for  a  map  doth  Nature  store, 
To  show  false  Art  what  beauty  was  of  yore. 

LXIX. 

Those  parts  of  thee  that  the  world's  eye  doth  view 

Want  nothingthat  the  thought  of  hearts  can  mend; 

All  tongues,  the  voice  of  souls,  give  thee  that  due, 

Uttering  bare  truth,  even  so  as  foes  commend. 

Thy  outward  thus  with  outward  praise  is  crown 'd, 

But  those  same  tongues  that  give  thee  so  thine  own 

In  other  accents  do  this  praise  confound 

By  seeing  farther  than  the  eye  hath  shown. 

They  look  into  the  beauty  of  thy  mind. 

And  that,  in  guess,  they  measure  by  thy  deeds ; 

Then,  churls,  their  thoughts,  although  their  eyes  were 

kind, 
To  thy  fair  flower  add  the  rank  smell  of  weeds; 
But  why  thy  odour  match eth  not  thy  show, 
The  soil  is  this,  that  thou  dost  common  grow. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  89 

LXX. 

That  thou  art  blam'd  shall  not  be  thy  defect, 
For  slander's  mark  was  ever  yet  the  fair ; 
The  ornament  of  beauty  is  suspect, 
A  crow  that  flies  in  heaven's  sweetest  air. 
So  thou  be  good,  slander  doth  but  approve 
Thy  worth  the  greater,  being  woo'd  of  time  ; 
For  canker  vice  the  sweetest  buds  doth  love, 
And  thou  present'st  a  pure  unstained  prime. 
Thou  hast  pass'd  by  the  ambush  of  young  days, 
Fither  not  assail'd  or  victor  being  charg'd, 
Vet  this  thy  praise  cannot  be  so  thy  praise 
To  tie  up  envy  evermore  enlarg'd  ; 

If  some  suspect  of  ill  mask'd  not  thy  show, 

Then  thou  alone  kingdoms  of  hearts  shouldst  owe. 

LXXI. 

No  longer  morn  for  me  when  I  am  dead 

Than  you  shall  hear  the  surly  sullen  bell 

Give  warning  to  the  world  that  I  am  fied 

From  this  vile  world,  with  vilest  worms  to  dwell; 

Nay,  if  you  read  this  line,  remember  not 

The  hand  that  writ  it,  for  I  love  you  so 

That  I  in  your  sweet  thoughts  would  be  forgot 

It  thinking  on  me  then  should  make  you  woe. 

( >.  if,  I  say,  you  look  upon  this  verse 

When  I  perhaps  compounded  am  with  clay, 


90  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Do  not  so  much  as  my  poor  name  rehearse, 
But  let  your  love  even  with  my  life  decay, 

Lest  the  wise  world  should  look  into  your  moan 
And  mock  you  with  me  after  I  am  gone. 

LXXII. 

O,  lest  the  world  should  task  you  to  recite 
What  merit  liv'd  in  me  that  you  should  love 
After  my  death,  dear  love,  forget  me  quite, 
For  you  in  me  can  nothing  worthy  prove  ; 
Unless  you  would  devise  some  virtuous  lie, 
To  do  more  for  me  than  mine  own  desert, 
And  hang  more  praise  upon  deceased  I 
Than  niggard  truth  would  willingly  impart. 
O,  lest  your  true  love  may  seem  false  in  this, 
That  you  for  love  speak  well  of  me  untrue, 
My  name  be  buried  where  my  body  is, 
And  live  no  more  to  shame  nor  me  nor  you  ! 
For  I  am  sham'd  by  that  which  I  bring  forth, 
And  so  should  you,  to  love  things  nothing  worth. 

LXXIII. 

That  time  of  year  thou  mayst  in  me  behold 
When  yellow  leaves,  or  none,  or  few,  do  hang 
Upon  those  boughs  which  shake  against  the  cold, 
Bare  ruin'd  choirs,  where  late  the  sweet  birds  sang. 
In  me  thou  seest  the  twilight  of  such  day 
As  after  sunset  fadeth  in  the  west, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  91 

Which  by  and  by  black  night  doth  take  away, 
Death's  second  self,  that  seals  up  all  in  rest. 
In  me  thou  seest  the  glowing  of  such  fire 
That  on  the  ashes  of  his  youth  doth  lie, 
As  the  death-bed  whereon  it  must  expire, 
Consum'd  with  that  which  it  was  nourish'd  by. 

This  thou  perceiv'st,  which  makes  thy  love  more  strong, 
To  love  that  well  which  thou  must  leave  ere  long. 

LXXIV. 

But  be  contented  ;  when  that  fell  arrest 

Without  all  bail  shall  carry  me  away, 

My  life  hath  in  this  line  some  interest 

Which  for  memorial  still  with  thee  shall  stay. 

When  thou  reviewest  this,  thou  dost  review 

The  very  part  was  consecrate  to  thee  : 

The  earth  can  have  but  earth,  which  is  his  due; 

My  spirit  is  thine,  the  better  part  of  me. 

So  then  thou  hast  but  lost  the  dregs  of  life, 

The  prey  of  worms,  my  body  being  dead, 

The  coward  conquest  of  a  wretch's  knife, 

Too  base  of  thee  to  be  remembered. 

The  worth  of  that  is  that  which  it  contains, 
And  that  is  this,  and  this  with  thee  remains. 

LXXV. 

So  are  you  to  my  thoughts  as  food  to  life, 

Or  as  sweet-seasun'd  showers  are  to  the  ground; 


92  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

And  for  the  peace  of  you  I  hold  such  strife. 

As  :twixt  a  miser  and  his  wealth  is  found  : 

Now  proud  as  an  enjoyer,  and  anon 

Doubting  the  filching  age  will  steal  his  treasure  ; 

Now  counting  best  to  be  with  you  alone, 

Then  better'd  that  the  world  may  see  my  pleasure 

Sometime  all  full  with  feasting  on  your  sights 

And  by  and  by  clean  starved  for  a  look ; 

Possessing  or  pursuing  no  delight 

Save  what  is  had  or  must  from  you  be  took 

Thus  do  I  pine  and  surfeit  day  by  day. 

Or  gluttoning  on  all,  or  all  away. 


LXXVI. 

Why  is  my  verse  so  barren  of  new  pride, 
So  far  from  variation  or  quick  change  ? 
Why  with  the  time  do  I  not  glance  aside 
To  new-found  methods  and  to  compounds  strange? 
Why  write  I  still  all  one,  ever  the  same, 
And  keep  invention  in  a  noted  weed, 
That  every  word  doth  almost  tell  my  name, 
Showing  their  birth  and  where  they  did  proceed  ? 
O,  know,  sweet  love,  f  always  write  of  you, 
And  you  and  love  are  still  my  argument, 
So  all  my  best  is  dressing  old  words  new 
Spending  again  what  is  already  spent  ; 
For  as  the  sun  is  daily  new  and  old, 
So  is  my  love  still  telling  what  is  told. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  93 


LXXVII. 

Thy  glass  will  show  thee  how  thy  beauties  wear, 
Thy  dial  how  thy  precious  minutes  waste ; 
The  vacant  leaves  thy  mind's  imprint  will  bear, 
And  of  this  book  this  learning  mayst  thou  taste. 
The  wrinkles  which  thy  glass  will  truly  show 
Of  mouthed  graves  will  give  thee  memory; 
Thou  by  thy  dial's  shady  stealth  mayst  know 
Time's  thievish  progress  to  eternity. 
Look,  what  thy  memory  can  not  contain 
Commit  to  these  waste  blanks,  and  thou  shalt  find 
Those  children  nurs'd,  deliver'd  from  thy  brain, 
To  take  a  new  acquaintance  of  thy  mind. 
These  offices,  so  oft  as  thou  wilt  look, 
Shall  profit  thee  and  much  enrich  thy  book. 

LXXVIII. 

So  oft  have  I  invok'd  thee  for  my  Muse. 

And  found  such  fair  assistance  in  my  verse, 

As  every  alien  pen  hath  got  my  use 

And  under  thee  their  poesy  disperse. 

Thine  eyes,  that  taught  the  dumb  on  high  to  sing 

And  heavy  ignorance  aloft  to  fly, 

Have  added  feathers  to  the  learned's  wing 

And  given  grace  a  double  majesty. 

Net  be  most  proud  of  that  which  1  compile, 

Whose  influence  is  thine  and  born  of  thee  ; 


94  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

In  others'  works  thou  dost  but  mend  the  style, 
And  arts  with  thy  sweet  graces  graced  be, 
But  thou  art  all  my  art,  and  dost  advance 
As  high  as  learning  my  rude  ignorance. 

LXXIX, 

Whilst  I  alone  did  call  upon  thy  aid, 
My  verse  alone  had  all  thy  gentle  grace, 
But  now  my  gracious  numbers  are  decay'd, 
And  my  sick  Muse  doth  give  another  place. 
I  grant,  sweet  love,  thy  lovely  argument 
Deserves  the  travail  of  a  worthier  pen, 
Yet  what  of  thee  thy  poet  doth  invent 
He  robs  thee  of  and  pays  it  thee  again. 
He  lends  thee  virtue,  and  he  stole  that  word 
From  thy  behaviour  ;  beauty  doth  he  give, 
And  found  it  in  thy  cheek ;  he  can  afford 
No  praise  to  thee  but  what  in  thee  doth  live. 
Then  thank  him  not  for  that  which  he  doth  say. 
Since  what  he  owes  thee  thou  thyself  dost  pay. 

LXXX. 

O,  how  I  faint  when  I  of  you  do  write, 
Knowing  a  better  spirit  doth  use  your  name, 
And  in  the  praise  thereof  spends  all  his  might; 
To  make  me  tongue-tied,  speaking  of  your  fame! 
But  since  your  worth,  wide  as  the  ocean  is, 
The  humble  as  the  proudest  sail  doth  bear. 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

F  97 

My  saucy  bark,  inferior  far  to  his, 

On  your  broad  main  cloth  wilfully  appear. 

Your  shallowest  help  will  hold  me  up  aloft, 

Whilst  he  upon  your  soundless  deep  doth  ride; 

Or,  being  wrack'd,  I  am  a  worthless  boat. 

He  of  tall  building  and  of  goodly  pride. 
Then  if  he  thrive  and  I  be  cast  away, 
The  worst  was  this,  —  my  love  was  my  decay. 

LXXXI. 

Or  I  shall  live  your  epitaph  to  make, 
Or  you  survive  when  I  in  earth  am  rotten ; 
From  hence  your  memory  death  cannot  take. 
Although  in  me  each  part  will  be  forgotten. 
Your  name  from  hence  immortal  life  shall  have, 
Though  I,  once  gone,  to  all  the  world  must  die; 
The  earth  can  yield  me  but  a  common  grave, 
When  you  entombed  in  men's  eyes  shall  lie. 
Your  monument  shall  be  my  gentle  verse, 
Which  eyes  not  yet  created  shall  o'er-read, 
And  tongues  to  be  your  being  shall  rehearse 
When  all  the  breathers  of  this  world  are  dead; 
You  still  shall  live  —  such  virtue  hath  my  pen  — 
Where  breath  most  breathes,  even  in  the  mouths  oi 
men. 

LXXXII. 

1  grant  thou  wert  not  married  to  my  Muse, 
And  therefore  mayst  without  attaint  o'erlook 


Q4  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

The  dedicated  words  which  writers  use 
Of  their  fair  subject,  blessing  every  book. 
Thou  art  as  fair  in  knowledge  as  in  hue, 
Finding  thy  worth  a  limit  past  my  praise, 
And  therefore  art  enforc'd  to  seek  anew 
Some  fresher  stamp  of  the  time-bettering  days, 
And  do  so,  love  ;  yet  when  they  have  devis'd 
What  strained  touches  rhetoric  can  lend, 
Thou  truly  fair  wert  truly  sympathiz'd 
In  true  plain  words  by  thy  true-telling  friend ; 
And  their  gross  painting  might  be  better  us'd 
Where  cheeks  need  blood,  in  thee  it  is  abus'd. 

LXXXIII. 

I  never  saw  that  you  did  painting  need, 
And  therefore  to  your  fair  no  painting  set; 
I  found,  or  thought  I  found,  you  did  exceed 
The  barren  tender  of  a  poet's  debt ; 
And  therefore  have  I  slept  in  your  report, 
That  ycu  yourself  being  extant  well  might  show 
How  far  a  modern  quill  doth  come  too  short, 
Speaking  of  worth,  what  worth  in  you  doth  grow. 
This  silence  for  my  sin  you  did  impute, 
Which  shall  be  most  my  glory,  being  dumb ; 
For  I  impair  not  beauty  being  mute, 
When  others  would  give  life  and  bring  a  tomb. 
There  lives  more  life  in  one  of  your  fair  eyes 
Than  both  vour  poets  can  in  praise  devise. 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  97 


LXXXIV. 

Who  is  it  that  says  most  ?  which  can  say  more 

Than  this  rich  praise,  that  you  alone  are  you? 

In  whose  confine  immured  is  the  store 

Which  should  example  where  your  equal  grew. 

Lean  penury  within  that  pen  doth  dwell 

That  to  his  subject  lends  not  some  small  glory; 

But  he  that  writes  of  you,  if  he  can  tell 

That  you  are  you,  so  dignifies  his  story. 

Let  him  but  copy  what  in  you  is  writ, 

Not  making  worse  what  nature  made  so  clear, 

And  such  a  counterpart  shall  fame  his  wit, 

Making  his  style  admired  ever)  where. 

You  to  your  beauteous  blessings  add  a  curse, 
Being  fond  on  praise,  which   makes  your  praises 
worse. 

LXXXV 

My  tongue-tied  Muse  in  manners  holds  her  still, 

While  comments  of  your  praise,  richly  compil'd, 

Reserve  their  character  with  golden  quill 

And  precious  phrase  by  all  the  Muses  iil'd. 

1  think  good  thoughts  whilst  other  write  good  words, 

And,  like  unletter'd  clerk,  still  cry  'Amen' 

To  every  hymn  that  able  spirit  affords 

In  polish 'd  form  of  well-refined  pen. 

Hearing  you  prais'd,  I  say  '  T  is  so,  't  is  true,5 

And  to  the  most  of  praise  add  something  more  ; 

SHAKESPEARE'       SONNE'I  s  —  7 


98  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

But  that  is  in  my  thought,  whose  love  to  you, 
Though  words  come  hindmost,  holds  his  rank  before. 
Then  others  for  the  breath  of  words  respect, 
Me  for  my  dumb  thoughts,  speaking  in  effect. 

LXXXVI. 

Was  it  the  proud  full  sail  of  his  great  verse, 
Bound  for  the  prize  of  all  too  precious  you, 
That  did  my  ripe  thoughts  in  my  brain  inhearse, 
Making  their  tomb  the  womb  wherein  they  grew  ? 
Was  it  his  spirit,  by  spirits  taught  to  write 
Above  a  mortal  pitch,  that  struck  me  dead  ? 
No,  neither  he,  nor  his  compeers  by  night 
Giving  him  aid,  my  verse  astonished. 
He,  nor  that  affable  familiar  ghost 
Which  nightly  gulls  him  with  intelligence, 
As  victors  of  my  silence  cannot  boast ; 
I  was  not  sick  of  any  fear  from  thence. 

But  when  your  countenance  fill'd  up  his  line, 
Then  lack'd  I  matter ;  that  enfeebled  mine. 

LXXXVII. 

Farewell !  thou  art  too  dear  for  my  possessing, 
And  like  enough  thou  know'st  thy  estimate. 
The  charter  of  thy  worth  gives  thee  releasing ; 
My  bonds  in  thee  are  all  determinate. 
For  how  do  I  hold  thee  but  by  thy  granting  ? 
And  for  that  riches  where  is  my  deserving  ? 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  99 

The  cause  of  this  fair  gift  in  me  is  wanting, 
And  so  my  patent  back  again  is  swerving. 
Thyself  thou  gav'st,  thy  own  worth  then  not  knowing, 
Or  me,  to  whom  thou  gav'st  it,  else  mistaking  ; 
So  thy  great  gift,  upon  misprision  growing, 
Comes  home  again,  on  better  judgment  making. 
Thus  have  I  had  thee,  as  a  dream  doth  flatter, 
In  sleep  a  king,  but  waking  no  such  matter. 

LXXXVIII. 

When  thou  shalt  be  dispos'd  to  set  me  light, 
And  place  my  merit  in  the  eye  of  scorn, 
Upon  thy  side  against  myself  I  '11  fight, 
And  prove  thee  virtuous,  though  thou  art  forsworn. 
With  mine  own  weakness  being  best  acquainted, 
Upon  thy  part  I  can  set  down  a  story 
Of  faults  conceal'd,  wherein  I  am  attainted, 
That  thou  in  losing  me  shalt  win  much  glory. 
And  I  by  this  will  be  a  gainer  too  ; 
For,  bending  all  my  loving  thoughts  on  thee, 
The  injuries  that  to  myself  I  do. 
Doing  thee  vantage,  double-vantage  me. 
Such  is  my  love,  to  thee  I  so  belong, 
That  for  thy  right  myself  will  bear  all  wrong. 

LXXXIX. 

Say  that  thou  didst  forsake  me  for  some  fault, 
And  I  will  comment  upon  that  offence ; 


ioo  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Speak  of  my  lameness,  and  I  straight  will  halt. 
Against  thy  reasons  making  no  defence. 
Thou  canst  not,  love,  disgrace  me  half  so  ill, 
To  set  a  form  upon  desired  change, 
As  I  '11  myself  disgrace  ;  knowing  thy  will, 
I  will  acquaintance  strangle  and  look  strange, 
Be  absent  from  thy  walks,  and  in  my  tongue 
Thy  sweet  beloved  name  no  more  shall  dwell, 
Lest  I,  too  much  profane,  should  do  it  wrong 
And  haply  of  our  old  acquaintance  tell. 
For  thee  against  myself  I  '11  vow  debate, 
For  I  must  ne'er  love  him  whom  thou  dost  hate, 


XC. 

Then  hate  me  when  thou  wilt,  —  if  ever,  now ; 

Now,  while  the  world  is  bent  my  deeds  to  cross, 

Join  with  the  spite  of  fortune,  make  me  bow, 

And  do  not  drop  in  for  an  after-loss. 

Ah,  do  not,  when  my  heart  hath  scap'd  this  sorrow. 

Come  in  the  rearward  of  a  conquer'd  woe ; 

Give  not  a  windy  night  a  rainy  morrow, 

To  linger  out  a  purpos'd  overthrow. 

If  thou  wilt  leave  me,  do  not  leave  me  last, 

When  other  petty  griefs  have  done  their  spite, 

But  in  the  onset  come  ;  so  shall  I  taste 

At  first  the  very  worst  of  fortune's  might, 

And  other  strains  of  woe,  which  now  seem  woe, 
Compar'd  with  loss  of  thee  will  not  seem  so. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  101 

XCL 

Some  glory  in  their  birth,  some  in  their  skill, 
Some  in  their  wealth,  some  in  their  bodies'  force, 
Some  in  their  garments,  though  new-fangled  ill, 
Some  in  their  hawks  and  hounds,  some  in  their  horse. 
And  every  humour  hath  his  adjunct  pleasure, 
Wherein  it  finds  a  joy  above  the  rest  ; 
But  these  particulars  are  not  my  measure, 
All  these  I  better  in  one  general  best. 
Thy  love  is  better  than  high  birth  to  me, 
Richer  than  wealth,  prouder  than  garments'  cost. 
Of  more  delight  than  hawks  or  horses  be, 
And,  having  thee,  of  all  men's  pride  I  boast; 
Wretched  in  this  alone,  that  thou  mayst  take 
All  this  away  and  me  most  wretched  make. 

XCII. 

But  do  thy  worst  to  steal  thyself  away, 
For  term  of  life  thou  art  assured  mine, 
And  life  no  longer  than  thy  love  will  stay, 
For  it  depends  upon  that  love  of  thine. 
Then  need  1  not  to  fear  the  worst  of  wrongs, 
When  in  the  least  of  them  my  life  hath  end. 
I  see  a  better  state  to  me  belongs 
Than  that  which  on  thy  humour  cloth  depend; 
Thou  canst  not  vex  me  with  inconstant  mind, 
Since  that  my  life  on  thy  revolt  doth  lie. 


102  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

O,  what  a  happy  title  do  1  find, 
Happy  to  have  thy  love,  happy  to  die  ! 

But  what  's  so  blessed-fair  that  fears  no  blot  ? 

Thou  mayst  be  false,  and  yet  I  know  it  net. 

XCIII. 

So  shall  I  live,  supposing  thou  art  true, 
Like  a  deceived  husband  ;  so  love's  face 
May  still  seem  love  to  me,  though  alter'd  new, 
Thy  looks  with  me,  thy  heart  in  other  place ; 
For  there  can  live  no  hatred  in  thine  eye, 
Therefore  in  that  I  cannot  know  thy  change. 
In  many's  looks  the  false  heart's  history 
Is  writ  in  moods  and  frowns  and  wrinkles  strange, 
But  heaven  in  thy  creation  did  decree 
That  in  thy  face  sweet  love  should  ever  dwell ; 
Whate'er  thy  thoughts  or  thy  heart's  workings  be, 
Thy  looks  should  nothing  thence  but  sweetness  tell 
How  like  Eve's  apple  doth  thy  beauty  grow, 
If  thy  sweet  virtue  answer  not  thy  show  1 

XCIV. 

They  that  have  power  to  hurt  and  will  do  none, 
That  do  not  do  the  thing  they  most  do  show. 
Who,  moving  others,  are  themselves  as  stone. 
Unmoved,  cold,  and  to  temptation  slow, 
They  rightly  do  inherit  heaven's  graces 
And  husband  nature's  riches  from  expense ; 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  103 

They  are  the  lords  and  owners  of  their  faces, 

Others  but  stewards  of  their  excellence. 

The  summer's  flower  is  to  the  summer  sweet, 

Though  to  itself  it  only  live  and  die, 

But  if  that  flower  with  base  infection  meet, 

The  basest  weed  outbraves  his  dignity  ; 

For  sweetest  things  turn  sourest  by  their  deeds, 
Lilies  that  fester  smell  far  worse  than  weeds. 

xcv. 

How  sweet  and  lovely  dost  thou  make  the  shame 
Which,  like  a  canker  in  the  fragrant  rose, 
Doth  spot  the  beauty  of  thy  budding  name  ! 
O,  in  what  sweets  dost  thou  thy  sins  enclose  1 
That  tongue  that  tells  the  story  of  thy  clays, 
Making  lascivious  comments  on  thy  sport, 
Cannot  dispraise  but  in  a  kind  of  praise  ; 
Naming  thy  name  blesses  an  ill  report. 
O,  what  a  mansion  have  those  vices  got 
Which  for  their  habitation  chose  out  thee, 
Where  beauty's  veil  cloth  cover  every  blot, 
And  all  things  turn  to  fair  that  eyes  can  see  ! 

Take  heed,  dear  heart,  of  this  large  privilege; 

The  hardest  knife  ill-us'd  cloth  lose  his  edge. 

XCV  I. 

Some  flay  thy  fault  is  youth,  some  wantonness  ; 
Some  say  thy  grace  is  youth  and  gentle  sport. 


104  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

Both  grace  and  faults  are  lov'd  of  more  and  less  •, 
Thou  mak'st  faults  graces  that  to  thee  resort. 
As  on  the  finger  of  a  throned  queen 
The  basest  jewel  will  be  well  esteem'd, 
So  are  those  errors  that  in  thee  are  seen 
To  truths  translated  and  for  true  things  deem'd. 
How  many  lambs  might  the  stern  wolf  betray, 
If  like  a  lamb  he  could  his  looks  translate  ! 
How  many  gazers  mightst  thou  lead  away, 
If  thou  wouldst  use  the  strength  of  all  thy  state  I 
But  do  not  so ;  I  love  thee  in  such  sort 
As,  thou  being  mine,  mine  is  thy  good  report. 

XCVII. 

How  like  a  winter  hath  my  absence  been 
From  thee,  the  pleasure  of  the  fleeting  year  I 
What  freezings  have  I  felt,  what  dark  days  seen, 
What  old  December's  bareness  every  where  ! 
And  yet  this  time  remov'd  was  summer's  time, 
The  teeming  autumn,  big  with  rich  increase, 
Bearing  the  wanton  burthen  of  the  prime, 
Like  widow'd  wombs  after  their  lords'  decease. 
Yet  this  abundant  issue  seem'd  to  me 
But  hope  of  orphans  and  unfather'd  fruit, 
For  summer  and  his  pleasures  wait  on  thee, 
And,  thou  away,  the  very  birds  are  mute; 
Or,  if  they  sing,  't  is  with  so  dull  a  cheer 
That  leaves  look  pale,  dreading  the  winter  's  near 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  IC5 

XCVIII. 

From  you  have  I  been  absent  in  the  spring, 
When  proud-pied  April  dress'd  in  all  his  trim 
Hath  put  a  spirit  of  youth  in  every  thing, 
That  heavy  Saturn  laugh'd  and  leap'd  with  him. 
Yet  nor  the  lays  of  birds  nor  the  sweet  smell 
Of  different  flowers  in  odour  and  in  hue 
Could  make  me  any  summer's  story  tell, 
Or  from  their  proud  lap  pluck  them  where  they  grew, 
Nor  did  I  wonder  at  the  lily's  white, 
Nor  praise  the  deep  vermilion  in  the  rose ; 
They  were  but  sweet,  but  figures  of  delight, 
Drawn  after  you,  you  pattern  of  all  those. 
Yet  seem'd  it  winter  still,  and,  you  away, 
As  with  your  shadow  I  with  these  did  play. 

XCIX. 

The  forward  violet  thus  did  I  chide : 

Sweet  thief,  whence   didst    thou    steal  thy  sweet  that 

smells, 
If  not  from  my  love's  breath  ?     The  purple  pride 
Which  on  thy  soft  cheek  for  complexion  dwells 
In  my  love's  veins  thou  hast  too  grossly  dyed. 
The  lily  I  condemned  for  thy  hand, 
And  buds  of  marjoram  had  stolen  thy  hair; 
The  roses  fearfully  on  thorns  did  stand, 
One  blushing  shame,  another  white  despair; 


106  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

A  third,  nor  red  nor  white,  had  stolen  of  both, 
And  to  his  robbery  had  annex'd  thy  breath, 
But,  for  his  theft,  in  pride  of  all  his  growth 
A  vengeful  canker  eat  him  up  to  death. 
More  flowers  I  noted,  yet  I  none  could  see 
But  sweet  or  colour  it  had  stolen  from  thee. 


C. 

Where  art  thou,  Muse,  that  thou  forget'st  so  long 
To  speak  of  that  which  gives  thee  all  thy  might  ? 
Spend'st  thou  thy  fury  on  some  worthless  song, 
Darkening  thy  power  to  lend  base  subjects  light  ? 
Return,  forgetful  Muse,  and  straight  redeem 
In  gentle  numbers  time  so  idly  spent ; 
Sing  to  the  ear  that  doth  thy  lays  esteem 
And  gives  thy  pen  both  skill  and  argument. 
Rise,  resty  Muse,  my  love's  sweet  face  survey, 
If  Time  have  any  wrinkle  graven  there  ; 
If  any,  be  a  satire  to  decay, 
And  make  Time's  spoils  despised  every  where. 

Give  my  love  fame  faster  than  Time  wastes  life; 

So  thou  prevent'st  his  scythe  and  crooked  knife, 


CI. 

()  truant  Muse,  what  shall  be  thy  amends 
For  thy  neglect  of  truth  in  beauty  dyed? 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  107 

Roth  truth  and  beauty  on  my  love  depends ; 

So  dost  thou  too,  and  therein  dignified. 

Make  answer,  Muse:  wilt  thou  not  haply  say 

'  Truth  needs  no  colour,  with  his  colour  fix'd  ; 

Beauty  no  pencil,  beauty's  truth  to  lay ; 

But  best  is  best,  if  never  intermix'd?' 

Because  he  needs  no  praise,  wilt  thou  be  dumb? 

Excuse  not  silence  so  ;  for  't  lies  in  thee 

To  make  him  much  outlive  a  gilded  tomb, 

And  to  be  prais'd  of  ages  yet  to  be. 

Then  do  thy  office,  Muse  ;   I  teach  thee  how 
To  make  him  seem  long  hence  as  he  shows  now. 

CII. 

My  love  is  strengthen'd,  though  more  week  in  seeming; 
I  love  not  less,  though  less  the  show  appear  ; 
That  love  is  merchandise 'd  whose  rich  esteeming 
The  owner';;  tongue  doth  publish  ever}'  where. 
Our  love  was  new  and  then  but  in  the  spring 
When  I  was  wont  to  greet  it  with  my  lays, 
As  Philomel  in  summer's  front  doth  sing 
And  stops  her  pipe  in  growth  of  riper  days; 
Not  that  the  summer  is  less  pleasant  now 
Than  when  her  mournful  hymns  did  hush  the  night, 
But  that  wild  music  burthens  every  bough 
And  sweets  grown  common  lose  their  dear  delight. 
Therefore  like  her  I  sometime  hold  my  tongue, 
Because  I  would  not  dull  you  with  my  song. 


108  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

cm. 

Alack,  what  poverty  my  muse  brings  forth, 
That,  having  such  a  scope  to  show  her  pride, 
The  argument  all  bare  is  of  more  worth 
Than  when  it  hath  my  added  praise  beside ! 
O,  blame  me  not,  if  I  no  more  can  write ! 
Look  in  your  glass,  and  there  appears  a  face 
That  overgoes  my  blunt  invention  quite, 
Dulling  my  lines  and  doing  me  disgrace. 
Were  it  not  sinful  then,  striving  to  mend, 
To  mar  the  subject  that  before  was  well  ? 
For  to  no  other  pass  my  verses  tend 
Than  of  your  graces  and  your  gifts  to  tell ; 

And  more,  much  more,  than  in  my  verse  can  sit 
Your  own  glass  shows  you  when  you  look  in  it. 

CIV. 

To  me,  fair  friend,  you  never  can  be  old, 
For  as  you  were  when  first  your  eye  I  eyed, 
Such  seems  your  beauty  still.     Three  winters  cold 
Have  from  the  forests  shook  three  summers'  pride, 
Three  beauteous  springs  to  yellow  autumn  turn'd 
In  process  of  the  seasons  have  I  seen, 
Three  April  perfumes  in  three  hot  Junes  burn'd, 
Since  first  I  saw  you  fresh,  which  yet  are  green. 
Ah !  yet  doth  beauty,  like  a  dial-hand, 
Steal  from  his  figure  and  no  pace  perceiv'd ; 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  109 

So  your  sweet  hue,  which  methinks  still  doth  stand, 
Hath  motion  and  mine  eye  may  be  deceiv'd, 
For  fear  of  which,  hear  this,  thou  age  unbred  : 
Ere  you  were  born  was  beauty's  summer  dead. 

CV. 

Let  not  my  love  be  call'd  idolatry, 

Nor  my  beloved  as  an  idol  show, 

Since  all  alike  my  songs  and  praises  be 

To  one,  of  one,  still  such,  and  ever  so. 

Kind  is  my  love  to-day,  to-morrow  kind, 

Still  constant  in  a  wondrous  excellence ; 

Therefore  my  verse  to  constancy  confin'd, 

One  thing  expressing,  leaves  out  difference. 

'  Fair,  kind,  and  true  '  is  all  my  argument, 

'  Fair,  kind,  and  true  '  varying  to  other  words  ; 

And  in  this  change  is  my  invention  spent, 

Three  themes  in  one,  which  wondrous  scope  affords. 
'  Fair,  kind,  and  true  '  have  often  liv'd  alone, 
Which  three  till  now  never  kept  seat  in  one. 

CVI. 

When  in  the  chronicle  of  wasted  time 
I  see  descriptions  of  the  fairest  wights, 
And  beauty  making  beautiful  old  rhyme 
In  praise  of  ladies  dead  and  lovely  knights, 
Then,  in  the  blazon  of  sweet  beauty's  best, 
Of  hand,  of  foot,  of  lip,  of  eye,  of  brow, 


iio  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

I  see  their  antique  pen  would  have  express'd 

Even  such  a  beauty  as  you  master  now. 

So  all  their  praises  are  but  prophecies 

Of  this  our  time,  all  you  prefiguring ; 

And,  for  they  look'd  but  with  divining  eyes, 

They  had  not  skill  enough  your  worth  to  sing, 
For  we  which  now  behold  these  present  days 
Have  eyes  to  wonder,  but  lack  tongues  to  praise, 

CVIL 

Not  mine  own  fears,  nor  the  prophetic  soul 
Of  the  wide  world  dreaming  on  things  to  come, 
Can  yet  the  lease  of  my  true  love  control, 
Suppos'd  as  forfeit  to  a  confin'd  doom. 
The  mortal  moon  hath  her  eclipse  endur'd, 
And  the  sad  augurs  mock  their  own  presage ; 
Incertainties  now  crown  themselves  assur'd, 
And  peace  proclaims  olives  of  endless  age. 
Now  with  the  drops  of  this  most  balmy  time 
My  love  looks  fresh,  and  Death  to  me  subscribes, 
Since,  spite  of  him,  I  '11  live  in  this  poor  rhyme, 
While  he  insults  o'er  dull  and  speechless  tribes  ; 
And  thou  in  this  shalt  find  thy  monument, 
When  tyrants'  crests  and  tombs  of  brass  are  spent 

CVIII. 

What  's  in  the  brain  that  ink  may  character 
Which  hath  not  figur'd  to  thee  my  true  spirit  ? 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  J 1 1 

What  's  new  to  speak,  what  new  to  register, 

That  may  express  my  love  or  thy  dear  merit  ? 

Nothing,  sweet  boy  ;  but  yet,  like  prayers  divine, 

I  must  each  day  say  o'er  the  very  same, 

Counting  no  old  thing  old,  thou  mine,  I  thine, 

Even  as  when  first  I  hallow'd  thy  fair  name. 

So  that  eternal  love  in  love's  fresh  case 

Weighs  not  the  dust  and  injury  of  age, 

Nor  gives  to  necessary  wrinkles  place, 

But  makes  antiquity  for  aye  his  page, 

Finding  the  first  conceit  of  love  there  bred 
Where  time  and  outward  form  would  show  it  dead 

CIX. 

O,  never  say  that  I  was  false  of  heart, 
Though  absence  seem'd  my  flame  to  qualify. 
As  easy  might  I  from  myself  depart 
As  from  my  soul,  which  in  thy  breast  doth  lie. 
That  is  my  home  of   love  ;   if  1  have  rang'd, 
Like  him  that  travels  I  return  again, 
Just  to  the  time,  not  with  the  time  exchang'd, 
■So  that  myself  bring  water  for  my  stain. 
Never  believe,  though  in  my  nature  reign'd 
All  frailties  that  besiege  all  kinds  of  blood, 
That  it  could  so  preposterously  be  stain'd 
To  leave  for  nothing  all  thy  sum  of  good  ; 
For  nothing  this  wide  universe  1  call, 
Save  thou,  my  rose  ;   in  it  thou  art  my  all. 


iii  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

CX. 

Alas,  't  is  true  I  have  gone  here  and  there 

And  made  myself  a  motley  to  the  view, 

Gor'd  mine  own  thoughts,  sold  cheap  what  is  most  dear 

Made  old  offences  of  affections  new ; 

Most  true  it  is  that  I  have  look'd  on  truth 

Askance  and  strangely,  but,  by  all  above, 

These  blenches  gave  my  heart  another  youth, 

And  worse  essays  prov'd  thee  my  best  of  love. 

Now  all  is  done,  have  what  shall  have  no  end  ; 

Mine  appetite  I  never  more  will  grind 

On  newer  proof,  to  try  an  older  friend, 

A  god  in  love,  to  whom  I  am  con  fin  'd. 

Then  give  me  welcome,  next  my  heaven  the  best, 
Even  to  thy  pure  and  most  most  loving  breast. 

CXI. 

O,  for  my  sake  do  you  with  Fortune  chide, 

The  guilty  goddess  of  my  harmful  deeds, 

That  did  not  better  for  my  life  provide 

Than  public  means  which  public  manners  breeds. 

Thence  comes  it  that  my  name  receives  a  brand, 

And  almost  thence  my  nature  is  subdued 

To  what  it  works  in,  like  the  dyer's  hand, 

Pity  me  then  and  wish  I  were  renew'd, 

Whilst,  like  a  willing  patient,  I  will  drink 

Potions  of  eisel  'gainst  my  strong  infection  , 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  113 

No  bitterness  that  I  will  bitter  think, 
Nor  double  penance,  to  correct  correction. 
Pity  me  then,  dear  friend,  and  I  assure  ye 
Even  that  your  pity  is  enough  to  cure  me. 

CXII. 

Your  love  and  pity  doth  the  impression  fill 
Which  vulgar  scandal  stamp'd  upon  my  brow; 
For  what  care  I  who  calls  me  well  or  ill, 
So  you  o'er-green  my  bad,  my  good  allow  ? 
You  are  my  all  the  world,  and  I  must  strive 
To  know  my  shames  and  praises  from  your  tongue  ? 
None  else  to  me,  nor  I  to  none  alive, 
That  my  steel'd  sense  or  changes  right  or  wrong. 
In  so  profound  abysm  I  thiow  all  care 
Of  others'  voices  that  my  adder's  sense 
To  critic  and  to  flatterer  stopped  are. 
Mark  how  with  my  neglect  I  do  dispense  : 
You  are  so  strongly  in  my  purpose  bred 
That  all  the  world  besides  methinks  are  dead. 

CXI  1 1. 

Since  I  left  you,  mine  eye  is  in  my  mind, 

And  that  which  governs  me  to  go  about 

Doth  part  his  function  and  is  partly  blind, 

Seems  seeing,  but  effectually  is  out  ; 

For  it  no  form  delivers  to  the  heart 

Of  bird,  of  flower,  or  shape,  which  it  doth  latch. 

SHAKESHE\KE'h    SnNNE'lS  —  S 


£14  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Of  his  quick  objects  hath  the  mind  no  part, 
Nor  his  own  vision  holds  what  it  doth  catch ; 
For  if  it  see  the  rud'st  or  gentlest  sight, 
The  most  sweet  favour  or  deformed'st  creature, 
The  mountain  or  the  sea,  the  day  or  night, 
The  crow  or  dove,  it  shapes  them  to  your  feature. 
Incapable  of  more,  replete  with  you, 
My  most  true  mind  thus  makes  mine  eye  untrue. 

CXIV. 

Or  whether  doth  my  mind,  being  crown'd  with  you, 
Drink  up  the  monarch's  plague,  this  flattery  ? 
Or  whether  shall  I  say,  mine  eye  saith  true, 
And  that  your  love  taught  it  this  alchemy, 
To  make  of  monsters  and  things  indigest 
Such  cherubins  as  your  sweet  self  resemble, 
Creating  every  bad  a  perfect  best, 
As  fast  as  objects  to  his  beams  assemble  ? 
O,  't  is  the  first ;   't  is  flattery  in  my  seeing, 
And  my  great  mind  most  kingly  drinks  it  up. 
Mine  eye  well  knows  what  with  his  gust  is  greeing, 
And  to  his  palate  doth  prepare  the  cup ; 
If  it  be  poison'd,  't  is  the  lesser  sin 
That  mine  eye  loves  it  and  doth  first  begin. 

cxv. 

Those  lines  that  I  before  have  writ  do  lie, 

Even  those  that  said  I  could  not  love  you  dearer ; 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  115 

Yet  then  my  judgment  knew  no  reason  why 
My  most  full  flame  should  afterwards  burn  clearer. 
But,  reckoning  time,  whose  million'd  accidents 
Creep  in  'twixt  vows  and  change  decrees  of  kings, 
Tan  sacred  beauty,  blunt  the  sharp'st  intents, 
Divert  strong  minds  to  the  course  of  altering  things, 
Alas,  why,  fearing  of  time's  tyranny, 
Might  I  not  then  say  '  Now  I  love  you  best,' 
When  I  was  certain  o'er  incertainty, 
Crowning  the  present,  doubting  of  the  rest? 
Love  is  a  babe  ;  then  might  I  not  say  so, 
To  give  full  growth  to  that  which  still  doth  grow  ? 

CXVI. 

Let  me  not  to  the  marriage  of  true  minds 

Admit  impediments.     Love  is  not  love 

Which  alters  when  it  alteration  finds, 

Or  bends  with  the  remover  to  remove. 

O,  no!   it  is  an  ever-fixed  mark 

That  looks  on  tempests  and  is  never  shaken  ; 

It  is  the  star  to  every  wandering  bark, 

Whose  worth  's  unknown,  although  his  height  be  taken. 

Love  's  not  Time's  fool,  though  rosy  lips  and  cheeks 

Within  his  bending  sickle's  compass  come  ; 

Love  alters  not  with  his  brief  hours  and  weeks, 

But  bears  it  out  even  to  the  edge  of  doom. 

If  this  be  error  and  upon  me  prov'd, 

I  never  writ,  nor  no  man  ever  lov'd. 


1 1 6  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 


CXVII. 

Accuse  me  thus  :  that  I  have  scanted  all 
Wherein  I  should  your  great  deserts  repay, 
Forgot  upon  your  dearest  love  to  call, 
Whereto  all  bonds  do  tie  me  day  by  day ; 
That  I  have  frequent  been  with  unknown  minds 
And  given  to  time  your  own  dear-purchas'd  right; 
That  I  have  hoisted  sail  to  all  the  winds 
Which  should  transport  me  farthest  from  your  sight 
Book  both  my  wilfulness  and  errors  down, 
And  on  just  proof  surmise  accumulate  ; 
Bring  me  within  the  level  of  your  frown, 
But  shoot  not  at  me  in  your  waken VI  hate  ; 
Since  my  appeal  says  I  did  strive  to  prove 
The  constancy  and  virtue  of  your  love. 

CXVIII. 

Like  as,  to  make  our  appetites  more  keen, 

With  eager  compounds  we  our  palate  urge, 

As,  to  prevent  our  maladies  unseen. 

We  sicken  to  shun  sickness  when  we  purge, 

Even  so,  being  full  of  your  ne'er  cloying  sweetness 

To  bitter  sauces  did  I  frame  my  feeding, 

And,  sick  of  welfare,  found  a  kind  of  meetness 

To  be  diseas'd  ere  that  there  was  true  needing. 

Thus  policy  in  love,  to  anticipate 

The  ills  that  were  not,  grew  to  faults  assur'd 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  117 

And  brought  to  medicine  a  healthful  state 
Which,  rank  of  goodness,  would  by  ill  be  cur'd  ; 
But  thence  I  learn,  and  find  the  lesson  true, 
Drugs  poison  him  that  so  fell  sick  of  you. 

CXIX. 

What  potions  have  I  drunk  of  Siren  tears, 
Distill'd  from  limbecks  foul  as  hell  within, 
Applying  fears  to  hopes  and  hopes  to  fears, 
Still  losing  when  I  saw  myself  to  win  ! 
What  wretched  errors  hath  my  heart  committed, 
Whilst  it  hath  thought  itself  so  blessed  never! 
How  have  mine  eyes  out  of  their  spheres  been  fitted 
In  the  distraction  of  this  madding  fever! 
O  benefit  of  ill !   now  1  find  true 
That  better  is  by  evil  still  made  better; 
And  ruin'd  love,  when  it  is  built  anew, 
Grows  fairer  than  at  first,  more  strong,  far  greater. 
So  I  return  rebuk'd  to  my  content, 
And  gain  by  ill  thrice  more  than  1  have  spent. 

cxx. 

That  you  were  once  unkind  befriends  me  now, 
And  for  that  sorrow  which  I  then  did  feel 
Needs  must  1  under  my  transgression  bow, 
Unless  my  nerves  were  brass  or  hammer'd  steel 
For  if  you  were  by  my  unkindness  shaken 
As  1  by  yours,  you  *ve  pass'd  a  hell  of  time, 


iiS  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

And  I,  a  tyrant,  have  no  leisure  taken 
To  weigh  how  once  I  suffer'd  in  your  crime. 
O,  that  our  night  of  woe  might  have  remember'd 
My  deepest  sense  how  hard  true  sorrow  hits, 
And  soon  to  you,  as  you  to  me,  then  tender'd 
The  humble  salve  which  wounded  bosoms  fits  ! 

But  that  your  trespass  now  becomes  a  fee  ; 

Mine  ransoms  yours,  and  yours  must  ransom  me 

CXXI. 

'T  is  better  to  be  vile  than  vile  esteem'd, 
When  not  to  be  receives  reproach  of  being, 
And  the  just  pleasure  lost  which  is  so  deem'd 
Not  by  our  feeling  but  by  others'  seeing ; 
For  why  should  others'  false  adulterate  eyes 
Give  salutation  to  my  sportive  blood  ? 
Or  on  my  frailties  why  are  frailer  spies, 
Which  in  their  wills  count  bad  what  I  think  good  ? 
No,  I  am  that  I  am,  and  they  that  level 
At  my  abuses  reckon  up  their  own. 
I  may  be  straight,  though  they  themselves  be  bevel ; 
By  their  rank  thoughts  my  deeds  must  not  be  shown, 
Unless  this  general  evil  they  maintain, 
All  men  are  bad,  and  in  their  badness  reign. 

CXXII. 

Thy  gift,  thy  tables,  are  within  my  brain 
Full  character'd  with  lasting  memory, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  119 

Which  shall  above  that  idle  rank  remain 

Beyond  all  date,  even  to  eternity, 

Or,  at  the  least,  so  long  as  brain  and  heart 

Have  faculty  by  nature  to  subsist ; 

Till  each  to  raz'd  oblivion  yield  his  part 

Of  thee,  thy  record  never  can  be  miss'd. 

That  poor  retention  could  not  so  much  hold, 

Nor  need  I  tallies  thy  dear  love  to  score ; 

Therefore  to  give  them  from  me  was  I  bold, 

To  trust  those  tables  that  receive  thee  more. 

To  keep  an  adjunct  to  remember  thee 

Were  to  import  forgetfulness  in  me. 

CXXIII. 

No,  Time,  thou  shalt  not  boast  that  I  do  change ! 
Thy  pyramids  built  up  with  newer  might 
To  me  are  nothing  novel,  nothing  strange  ; 
They  are  but  dressings  of  a  former  sight. 
Our  dates  are  brief,  and  therefore  we  admire 
What  thou  dost  foist  upon  us  that  is  old, 
And  rather  make  them  born  to  our  desire 
Than  think  that  we  before  have  heard  them  told. 
Thy  registers  and  thee  I  both  defy, 
Not  wondering  at  the  present  nor  the  past, 
For  thy  records  and  what  we  see  doth  lie, 
Made  more  or  less  by  thy  continual  haste. 
This  I  do  vow  and  this  shall  ever  be  : 
I  will  be  true,  despite  thy  scythe  and  thee. 


i  20  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 


CXXIV. 

If  my  dear  love  were  but  the  child  of  state, 
It  might  for  Fortune's  bastard  be  unfather'd, 
As  subject  to  Time's  love  or  to  Time's  hate, 
Weeds  among  weeds,  or  flowers  with  flowers  gather'd 
No,  it  was  builded  far  from  accident ; 
It  suffers  not  in  smiling  pomp,  nor  falls 
Under  the  blow  of  thralled  discontent, 
Whereto  the  inviting  time  our  fashion  calls. 
It  fears  not  policy,  that  heretic, 
Which  works  on  leases  of  short-number'd  hours, 
But  all  alone  stands  hugely  politic, 
That  it  nor  grows  with  heat  nor  drowns  with  showers 
To  this  I  witness  call  the  fools  of  time, 
Which  die  for  goodness,  who  have  liv'd  for  crime. 

cxxv. 

Were  't  aught  to  me  I  bore  the  canopy, 

With  my  extern  the  outward  honouring, 

Or  laid  great  bases  for  eternity, 

Which  prove  more  short  than  waste  or  ruining? 

Have  I  not  seen  dwellers  on  form  and  favour 

Lose  all,  and  more,  by  paying  too  much  rent, 

For  compound  sweet  foregoing  simple  savour, 

Pitiful  thrivers,  in  their  gazing  spent? 

No,  let  me  be  obsequious  in  thy  heart, 

And  take  thou  my  oblation,  poor  but  free. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  121 

Which  is  not  mix'd  with  seconds,  knows  no  art, 

But  mutual  render,  only  me  for  thee. 

Hence,  thou  suborn'd  informer!  a  true  soul 
When  most  impeach 'd  stands  least  in  thy  control. 

CXXVI. 

ft  thou,  my  lovely  boy,  who  in  thy  power 
i)ost  hold  Time's  fickle  glass  his  fickle  hour, 
Who  hast  by  waning  grown  and  therein  show'st 
Thy  lovers  withering  as  thy  sweet  self  grow'st, 
If  Nature,  sovereign  mistress  over  wrack, 
As  thou  goest  onwards.,  still  will  pluck  thee  back, 
She  keeps  thee  to  this  purpose,  that  her  skill 
ftlay  time  disgrace  and  wretched  minutes  kill. 
Yet  fear  her,  O  thou  minion  of  her  pleasure  ! 
She  may  detain,  but  not  still  keep,  her  treasure ; 
Her  audit,  though  delay'd,  answer'd  must  be, 
And  her  quietus  is  to  render  thee. 


CXXVII. 


In  the  old  age  black  was  not  counted  fair, 
Or,  if  it  were,  it  bore  not  beauty's  name, 
But  now  is  black  beauty's  successive  heir, 
And  beauty  slander'd  with  a  bastard  shame ; 
For  since  each  hand  hath  put  on  nature's  power, 
Fairing  the  foul  with  art's  false  borrow'd  face, 
Sweet  beaut\r  hath  no  name,  no  hoi}"  bower, 


122  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

But  is  profan'd,  if  not  lives  in  disgrace. 
Therefore  my  mistress'  brows  are  raven  black, 
Her  eyes  so  suited,  and  they  mourners  seem 
At  such  who,  not  born  fair,  no  beauty  lack, 
Slandering  creation  with  a  false  esteem  ; 
Yet  so  they  mourn,  becoming  of  their  woe, 
That  every  tongue  says  beauty  should  look  so. 

CXXVIII. 

How  oft,  when  thou,  my  music,  music  play'st, 
Upon  that  blessed  wood  whose  motion  sounds 
With  thy  sweet  fingers,  when  thou  gently  sway'st 
The  wiry  concord  that  mine  ear  confounds, 
Do  I  envy  those  jacks  that  nimble  leap 
To  kiss  the  tender  inward  of  thy  hand, 
Whilst  my  poor  lips,  which  should  that  harvest  reap, 
At  the  wood's  boldness  by  thee  blushing  stand  ! 
To  be  so  tickled,  they  would  change  their  state 
And  situation  with  those  dancing  chips 
O'er  whom  thy  fingers  walk  with  gentle  gait, 
Making  dead  wood  more  blest  than  living  lips. 
Since  saucy  jacks  so  happy  are  in  this, 
Give  them  thy  fingers,  me  thy  lips  to  kiss. 

CXXIX. 

The  expense  of  spirit  in  a  waste  of  shame 
Is  lust  in  action  ;  and  till  action  lust 


Shakespeare's   Sonnets  123 

Is  perjur'd,  murtherous,  bloody,  full  of  blame, 

Savage,  extreme,  rude,  cruel,  not  to  trust, 

Enjoy'd  no  sooner  but  despised  straight, 

Past  reason  hunted,  and  no  sooner  had 

Past  reason  hated,  as  a  swallow'd  bait 

On  purpose  laid  to  make  the  taker  mad ; 

Mad  in  pursuit  and  in  possession  so  ; 

Had,  having,  and  in  quest  to  have,  extreme  ; 

A  bliss  in  proof  and,  prov'd,  a  very  woe  ; 

Before,  a  joy  propos'd  ;  behind,  a  dream. 

All  this  the  world  well  knows  ;  yet  none  knows  well 
To  shun  the  heaven  that  leads  men  to  this  hell. 


cxxx. 

My  mistress'  eyes  are  nothing  like  the  sun; 

Coral  is  far  more  red  than  her  lips'  red  ; 

If  snow  be  white,  why  then  her  breasts  are  dun  ; 

If  hairs  be  wires,  black  wires  grow  on  her  head. 

I  have  seen  roses  damask'd,  red  and  white, 

But  no  such  roses  see  I  in  her  cheeks  ; 

And  in  some  perfumes  is  there  more  delight 

Than  in  the  breath  that  from  my  mistress  reeks. 

I  love  to  hear  her  speak,  yet  well  I  know 

That  music  hath  a  far  more  pleasing  sound  ; 

I  grant  I  never  saw  a  goddess  go ; 

My  mistress,  when  she  walks,  treads  on  the  ground 
And  yet,  by  heaven,  I  think  my  love  as  rare 
As  any  she  belied  with  false  compare ! 


124  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 


CXXXI. 

Thou  art  as  tyrannous,  so  as  thou  art, 
As  those  whose  beauties  proudly  make  them  cruel  ; 
For  well  thou  know'st  to  my  dear  doting  heart 
Thou  art  the  fairest  and  most  precious  jewel. 
Yet,  in  good  faith,  some  say  that  thee  behold 
Thy  face  hath  not  the  power  to  make  love  groan ; 
To  say  they  err  I  dare  not  be  so  bold, 
Although  I  swear  it  to  myself  alone. 
And,  to  be  sure  that  is  not  false  I  swear, 
A  thousand  groans,  but  thinking  on  thy  face, 
One  on  another's  neck,  do  witness  bear 
Thy  black  is  fairest  in  my  judgment's  place. 
In  nothing  art  thou  black  save  in  thy  deeds, 
And  thence  this  slander,  as  I  think,  proceeds. 

CXXXII. 

Thine  eyes  I  love,  and  they,  as  pitying  me, 
Knowing  thy  heart  torments  me  with  disdain, 
Have  put  on  black  and  loving  mourners  be, 
Looking  with  pretty  ruth  upon  my  pain  ; 
And  truly  not  the  morning  sun  of  heaven 
Better  becomes  the  grey  cheeks  of  the  east, 
Nor  that  full  star  that  ushers  in  the  even 
Doth  half  that  glory  to  the  sober  west, 
As  those  two  mourning  eyes  become  thy  face. 
O,  let  it  then  as  well  beseem  thy  heart 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  125 

To  mourn  for  me,  since  mourning  doth  thee  grace, 

And  suit  thy  pity  like  in  every  part ! 

Then  will  I  swear  beauty  herself  is  black, 
And  all  they  foul  that  thy  complexion  lack. 

CXXXIII. 

Beshrew  that  heart  that  makes  my  heart  to  groan 
For  that  deep  wound  it  gives  my  friend  and  me ! 
Is  't  not  enough  to  torture  me  alone, 
But  slave  to  slavery  my  sweet'st  friend  must  be  ? 
Me  from  myself  thy  cruel  eye  hath  taken, 
And  my  next  self  thou  harder  hast  engross'd. 
Of  him,  myself,  and  thee,  I  am  forsaken  ; 
A  torment  thrice  threefold  thus  to  be  cross'd. 
Prison  my  heart  in  thy  steel  bosom's  ward, 
But  then  my  friend's  heart  let  my  poor  heart  bail; 
Whoe'er  keeps  me,  let  my  heart  be  his  guard ; 
Thou  canst  not  then  use  rigour  in  my  gaol. 
And  yet  thou  wilt,  for  I,  being  pent  in  thee, 
Perforce  am  thine,  and  all  that  is  in  me. 

CXXXIV. 

So,  now  I  have  confess'd  that  he  is  thine, 
And  I  myself  am  mortgag'd  to  thy  will, 
Myself  I  '11  forfeit,  so  that  other  mine 
Thou  wilt  restore,  to  be  my  comfort  still. 
But  thou  wilt  not,  nor  he  will  not  be  free, 
For  thou  art  covetous  and  he  is  kind  ; 


126  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

He  learn 'd  but  surety-like  to  write  for  me 
Under  that  bond  that  him  as  fast  doth  bind. 
The  statute  of  thy  beauty  thou  wilt  take, 
Thou  usurer,  that  putt'st  forth  all  to  use, 
And  sue  a  friend  came  debtor  for  my  sake  ; 
So  him  I  lose  through  my  unkind  abuse. 

Him  have  I  lost,  thou  hast  both  him  and  me  ; 

He  pays  the  whole,  and  yet  am  I  not  free. 

cxxxv. 

Whoever  hath  her  wish,  thou  hast  thy  '  Will,' 
And  '  Will  '  to  boot,  and  '  Will '  in  overplus  ; 
More  than  enough  am  I  that  vex  thee  still, 
To  thy  sweet  will  making  addition  thus. 
Wilt  thou,  whose  will  is  large  and  spacious, 
Not  once  vouchsafe  to  hide  my  will  in  thine  ? 
Shall  will  in  others  seem  right  gracious, 
And  in  my  will  no  fair  acceptance  shine  ? 
The  sea,  all  water,  yet  receives  rain  still 
And  in  abundance  addeth  to  his  store  ; 
So  thou,  being  rich  in  '  Will,'  add  to  thy  '  Will ' 
One  will  of  mine,  to  make  thy  large  '  Will  '  more. 

Let  no  unkind,  no  fair  beseechers  kill ; 

Think  all  but  one,  and  me  in  that  one  '  Will.' 

CXXXVI. 

If  thy  soul  check  thee  that  I  come  so  near, 
Swear  to  thy  blind  soul  that  I  was  thy  'Will,' 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  127 

And  will,  thy  soul  knows,  is  admitted  there ; 

Thus  far  for  love  my  love-suit,  sweet,  fulfil. 

'  Will  '  will  fulfil  the  treasure  of  thy  love, 

Ay,  fill  it  full  with  wills,  and  my  will  one. 

In  things  of  great  receipt  with  ease  we  prove 

Among  a  number  one  is  reckon'd  none. 

Then  in  the  number  let  me  pass  untold, 

Though  in  thy  store's  account  I  one  must  be ; 

For  nothing  hold  me,  so  it  please  thee  hold 

That  nothing  me,  a  something  sweet  to  thee. 
Make  but  my  name  thy  love,  and  love  that  still, 
And  then  thou  lov'st  me,  for  my  name  is  '  Will.' 

CXXXVII. 

Thou  blind  fool,  Love,  what  dost  thou  to  mine  eyes, 

That  they  behold,  and  see  not  what  they  see  ? 

They  know  what  beauty  is,  see  where  it  lies, 

Yet  what  the  best  is  take  the  worst  to  be. 

If  eyes  corrupt  by  over-partial  looks 

Be  anchor'd  in  the  bay  where  all  men  ride, 

Why  of  eyes'  falsehood  hast  thou  forged  hooks 

Whereto  the  judgment  of  my  heart  is  tied  ? 

Why  should  my  heart  think  that  a  several  plot 

Which  my  heart  knows  the  wide  world's  common  place? 

Or  mine  eyes,  seeing  this,  say  this  is  not, 

To  put  fair  truth  upon  so  foul  a  face  ? 

In  things  right  true  my  heart  and  eyes  have  err'd, 
And  to  this  false  plague  are  they  now  transferr'd. 


128  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

CXXXVIII. 

When  my  love  swears  that  she  is  made  of  truthj 
I  do  believe  her,  though  I  know  she  lies, 
That  she  might  think  me  some  untutor'd  youth, 
Unlearned  in  the  world's  false  subtleties. 
Thus  vainly  thinking  that  she  thinks  me  young, 
Although  she  knows  my  days  are  past  the  best, 
Simply  I  credit  her  false-speaking  tongue  ; 
On  both  sides  thus  is  simple  truth  suppress'd. 
But  wherefore  says  she  not  she  is  unjust  ? 
And  wherefore  say  not  I  that  I  am  old  ? 
O,  love's  best  habit  is  in  seeming  trust, 
And  age  in  love  loves  not  to  have  years  told. 
Therefore  I  lie  with  her  and  she  with  me, 
And  in  our  faults  by  lies  we  flatter'd  be. 

CXXXIX. 

O,  call  not  me  to  justify  the  wrong 

That  thy  unkindness  lays  upon  my  heart ! 

Wound  me  not  with  thine  eye,  but  with  thy  tongue ; 

Use  power  with  power,  and  slay  me  not  by  art. 

Tell  me  thou  lov'st  elsewhere,  but  in  my  sight, 

Dear  heart,  forbear  to  glance  thine  eye  aside  ; 

What  need'st  thou  wound  with  cunning  when  thy  mighl 

Is  more  than  my  o'er-press'd  defence  can  bide  ? 

Let  me  excuse  thee  :  ah  !  my  love  well  knows 

Her  pretty  looks  have  been  mine  enemies, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  129 

And  therefore  from  my  face  she  turns  my  foes, 
That  they  elsewhere  might  dart  their  injuries. 
Yet  do  not  so,  but  since  I  am  near  slain 
Kill  me  outright  with  looks  and  rid  my  pain. 

CXL. 

Be  wise  as  thou  art  cruel ;  do  not  press 
My  tongue-tied  patience  with  too  much  disdain, 
Lest  sorrow  lend  me  words,  and  words  express 
The  manner  of  my  pity-wanting  pain. 
If  I  might  teach  thee  wit,  better  it  were, 
Though  not  to  love,  yet,  love,  to  tell  me  so, 
As  testy  sick  men,  when  their  deaths  be  near, 
No  news  but  health  from  their  physicians  know; 
For  if  I  should  despair,  I  should  grow  mad, 
And  in  my  madness  might  speak  ill  of  thee. 
Now  this  ill-wresting  world  is  grown  so  bad, 
Mad  slanderers  by  mad  ears  believed  be. 

That  I  may  not  be  so,  nor  thou  belied, 

Bear  thine  eyes  straight,  though  thy  proud  heart  go 
wide. 

CXLI. 

In  faith,  I  do  not  love  thee  with  mine  eyes, 
For  they  in  thee  a  thousand  errors  note, 
But  't  is  my  heart  that  loves  what  they  despise, 
Who  in  despite  of  view  is  pleas'd  to  dote  ; 

Nor  are  mine  ears  with  thy  tongue's  tune  delighted 
Xor  tender  feeling,  to  base  touches  prone, 

SHAK  KM'KAKh's    Si  iNNEI's  —  y 


130  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

Nor  taste,  nor  smell,  desire  to  be  invited 
To  any  sensual  feast  with  thee  alone. 
But  my  five  wits  nor  my  five  senses  can 
Dissuade  one  foolish  heart  from  serving  thee, 
Who  leaves  unsway'd  the  likeness  of  a  man, 
Thy  proud  heart's  slave  and  vassal  wretch  to  be. 
Only  my  plague  thus  far  I  count  my  gain, 
That  she  that  makes  me  sin  awards  me  pain. 

CXLII. 

Love  is  my  sin  and  thy  dear  virtue  hate, 
Hate  of  my  sin,  grounded  on  sinful  loving. 
O,  but  with  mine  compare  thou  thine  own  state, 
And  thou  shalt  find  it  merits  not  reproving  ! 
Or,  if  it  do,  not  from  those  lips  of  thine, 
That  have  prof  an 'd  their  scarlet  ornaments 
And  seal'd  false  bonds  of  love  as  oft  as  mine, 
Robb'd  others'  beds'  revenues  of  their  rents. 
Be  it  lawful  I  love  thee,  as  thou  lov'st  those 
Whom  thine  eyes  woo  as  mine  importune  thee ; 
Root  pity  in  thy  heart,  that  when  it  grows 
Thy  pity  may  deserve  to  pitied  be. 

If  thou  dost  seek  to  have  what  thou  dost  hide, 
By  self-example  mayst  thou  be  denied  1 

CXLIII. 

Lo  I  as  a  careful  housewife  runs  to  catch 
One  of  her  feather'd  creatures  broke  away, 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  131 

Sets  down  her  babe  and  makes  all  swift  dispatch 
In  pursuit  of  the  thing  she  would  have  stay, 
Whilst  her  neglected  child  holds  her  in  chase, 
Cries  to  catch  her  whose  busy  care  is  bent 
To  follow  that  which  flies  before  her  face, 
Not  prizing  her  poor  infant's  discontent; 
So  runn'st  thou  after  that  which  flies  from  thee 
Whilst  I  thy  babe  chase  thee  afar  behind. 
But  if  thou  catch  thy  hope,  turn  back  to  me, 
And  play  the  mother's  part,  kiss  me,  be  kind  ; 
So  will  I  pray  that  thou  mayst  have  thy  '  Will,' 
If  thou  turn  back,  and  my  loud  crying  still. 

CXLIV. 

Two  loves  I  have  of  comfort  and  despair, 

Wbich  like  two  spirits  do  suggest  me  still; 

The  better  angel  is  a  man  right  fair, 

The  worser  spirit  a  woman  colour'd  ill. 

To  win  me  soon  to  hell,  my  female  evil 

Tempteth  my  better  angel  from  my  side, 

And  would  corrupt  my  saint  to  be  a  devil, 

Wooing  his  purity  with  her  foul  pride. 

And  whether  that  my  angel  be  turn'd  fiend 

Suspect  I  may,  yet  not  directly  tell, 

Rut  being  both  from  me,  both  to  each  friend, 

I  guess  one  angel  in  another's  hell  ; 

Yet  this  shall  I  ne'er  know,  but  live  in  doubt, 
Till  my  bad  angel  fire  my  good  one  out. 


132  Shakespeare's  Sonnets 

CXLV. 

Those  lips  that  Love's  own  hand  did  make 
Breath 'd  forth  the  sound  that  said  '  I  hate  ' 
To  me  that  languish 'd  for  her  sake ; 
But  when  she  saw  my  woeful  state, 
Straight  in  her  heart  did  mercy  come, 
Chiding  that  tongue  that  ever  sweet 
Was  us'd  in  giving  gentle  doom, 
And  taught  it  thus  anew  to  greet. 
'  I  hate  '  she  alter'd  with  an  end 
That  follow'd  it  as  gentle  day 
Doth  follow  night,  who  like  a  fiend 
From  heaven  to  hell  is  flown  away ; 
'  I  hate  '  from  hate  away  she  threw, 
And  sav'd  my  life,  saying  '  not  you.' 

CXLVI. 

Poor  soul,  the  centre  of  my  sinful  earth, 
Press'd  by  these  rebel  powers  that  thee  array, 
Why  dost  thou  pine  within  and  suffer  dearth, 
Painting  thy  outward  walls  so  costly  gay  ? 
Why  so  large  cost,  having  so  short  a  lease, 
Dost  thou  upon  thy  fading  mansion  spend? 
Shall  worms,  inheritors  of  this  excess, 
Eat  up  thy  charge  ?   is  this  thy  body's  end  ? 
Then,  soul,  live  thou  upon  thy  servant's  loss. 
And  let  that  pine  to  aggravate  thy  store ; 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  133 

Buy  terms  divine  in  selling  hours  of  dross ; 

Within  be  fed,  without  be  rich  no  more. 

So  shalt  thou  feed  on  Death,  that  feeds  on  men, 
And  Death  once  dead,  there  's  no  more  dying  then. 

CXLVII. 

My  love  is  as  a  fever,  longing  still 

For  that  which  longer  nurseth  the  disease, 

Feeding  on  that  which  doth  preserve  the  ill, 

The  uncertain  sickly  appetite  to  please. 

My  reason,  the  physician  to  my  love, 

Angry  that  his  prescriptions  are  not  kept, 

Hath  left  me,  and  I  desperate  now  approve 

Desire  is  death,  which  physic  did  except. 

Past  cure  I  am,  now  reason  is  past  care, 

And  frantic-mad  with  evermore  unrest ; 

My  thoughts  and  my  discourse  as  madmen's  are, 

At  random  from  the  truth  vainly  express'd  ; 

For  I  have  sworn  thee  fair  and  thought  thee  bright 
Who  art  as  black  as  hell,  as  dark  as  night. 

CXLVIII. 

O  me,  what  eyes  hath  Dove  put  in  my  head, 
Which  have  no  correspondence  with  true  sight  1 
Or,  if  they  have,  where  is  my  judgment  Hed, 
That  censures  falsely  what  they  see  aright? 
If  that  be  fair  whereon  my  false  eyes  dote, 
What  means  the  world  to  say  it  is  not  so  ? 


134  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

If  it  be  not,  then  love  doth  well  denote 
Love's  eye  is  not  so  true  as  all  men's  no. 
How  can  it  ?     O,  how  can  Love's  eye  be  true 
That  is  so  vex'd  with  watching  and  with  tears  ? 
No  marvel  then  though  I  mistake  my  view ; 
The  sun  itself  sees  not  till  heaven  clears. 

O  cunning  Love !  with  tears  thou  keep'st  me  blind, 
Lest  eyes  well-seeing  thy  foul  faults  should  find. 

CXLIX. 

Canst  thou,  O  cruel !  say  I  love  thee  not, 
When  I  against  myself  with  thee  partake? 
Do  I  not  think  on  thee  when  I  forgot 
Am  of  myself,  all  tyrant,  for  thy  sake  ? 
Who  hateth  thee  that  I  do  call  my  friend  ? 
On  whom  frown 'st  thou  that  I  do  fawn  upon  ? 
Nay,  if  thou  lower'st  on  me,  do  I  not  spend 
Revenge  upon  myself  with  present  moan  ? 
What  merit  do  I  in  myself  respect, 
That  is  so  proud  thy  service  to  despise, 
When  all  my  best  doth  worship  thy  defect, 
Commanded  by  the  motion  of  thine  eyes? 

But,  love,  hate  on,  for  now  I  know  thy  mind  ; 

Those  that  can  see  thou  lov'st,  and  I  am  blind. 

CL. 

O,  from  what  power  hast  thou  this  powerful  might 
With  insufficiency  my  heart  to  sway  ? 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  135 

To  make  me  give  the  lie  to  my  true  sight, 

And  swear  that  brightness  doth  not  grace  the  day  ? 

Whence  hast  thou  this  becoming  of  things  ill, 

That  in  the  very  refuse  of  thy  deeds 

There  is  such  strength  and  warrantise  of  skill 

That,  in  my  mind,  thy  worst  all  best  exceeds  ? 

Who  taught  thee  how  to  make  me  love  thee  more 

The  more  I  hear  and  see  just  cause  of  hate  ? 

O,  though  I  love  what  others  do  abhor, 

With  others  thou  shouldst  not  abhor  my  state  1 

If  thy  unworthiness  rais'd  love  in  me, 

More  worthy  I  to  be  belov'd  of  thee. 

CLI. 

Love  is  too  young  to  know  what  conscience  is ; 
Yet  who  knows  not  conscience  is  born  of  love? 
Then,  gentle  cheater,  urge  not  my  amiss, 
Lest  guilty  of  my  faults  thy  sweet  self  prove ; 
For,  thou  betraying  me,  I  do  betray 
My  nobler  part  to  my  gross  body's  treason. 
My  soul  doth  tell  my  body  that  he  may 
Triumph  in  love  ;  flesh  stays  no  farther  reason, 
But,  rising  at  thy  name,  doth  point  out  thee 
As  his  triumphant  prize.      Proud  of  this  pride, 
He  is  contented  thy  poor  drudge  to  be, 
To  stand  in  thy  affairs,  fall  by  thy  side. 
No  want  of  conscience  hold  it  that  I  call 
Her  '  love  '  for  whose  dear  love  I  rise  and  fall. 


136  Shakespeare's   Sonnets 

CLII. 

In  loving  thee  thou  know'st  I  am  forsworn, 
But  thou  art  twice  forsworn,  to  me  love  swearing, 
In  act  thy  bed- vow  broke  and  new  faith  torn 
In  vowing  new  hate  after  new  love  bearing. 
But  why  of  two  oaths'  breach  do  I  accuse  thee, 
When  I  break  twenty?     I  am  perjur'd  most, 
For  all  my  vows  are  oaths  but  to  misuse  thee, 
And  all  my  honest  faith  in  thee  is  lost ; 
For  I  have  sworn  deep  oaths  of  thy  deep  kindness, 
Oaths  of  thy  love,  thy  truth,  thy  constancy, 
And,  to  enlighten  thee,  gave  eyes  to  blindness, 
Or  made  them  swear  against  the  thing  they  see  ; 
For  I  have  sworn  thee  fair  —  more  perjur'd  I, 
To  swear  against  the  truth  so  foul  a  lie  I 


CLIII. 


Cupid  iaid  by  his  brand,  and  fell  asleep ; 
A  maid  of  Dian's  this  advantage  found, 
And  his  love-kindling  fire  did  quickly  steep 
In  a  cold  valley-fountain  of  that  ground, 
Which  borrow'd  from  this  holy  tire  of  Love 
A  dateless  lively  heat,  still  to  endure, 
And  grew  a  seething  bath,  which  yet  men  prove 
Against  strange  maladies  a  sovereign  cure. 


Shakespeare's  Sonnets  137 

But  at  my  mistress'  eye  Love's  brand  new-fir'd, 
The  boy  for  trial  needs  would  touch  my  breast ; 
I,  sick  withal,  the  help  of  bath  desir'd, 
And  thither  hied,  a  sad  distemper'd  guest, 
But  found  no  cure  ;  the  bath  for  my  help  lies 
Where  Cupid  got  new  fire  —  my  mistress'  eyes. 

CLIV. 

The  little  Love-god  lying  once  asleep 

Laid  by  his  side  his  heart-inflaming  brand, 

Whilst  many  nymphs  that  vow'd  chaste  life  to  keep 

Came  tripping  by ;  but  in  her  maiden  hand 

The  fairest  votary  took  up  that  fire 

Which  many  legions  of  true  hearts  had  warm'd, 

And  so  the  general  of  hot  desire 

Was  sleeping  by  a  virgin  hand  disarm'd. 

This  brand  she  quenched  in  a  cool  well  by, 

Which  from  Love's  fire  took  heat  perpetual, 

Growing  a  bath  and  healthful  remedy 

For  men  diseas'd  ;  but  I,  my  mistress'  thrall, 

Came  there  for  cure,  and  this  by  that  I  prove, — 
Love's  fire  heats  water,  water  cools  not  love. 


NOTES 


The  references  to  "  Palgrave  "  in  the  Notes  are  to  F.  T.  Pal- 
grave's  edition  of  Shakespeare's  Songs  and  Sonnets  (London,  1879) ; 
those  to  "Verity"  are  to  Mr.  A.  \V.  Verity's  notes  on  the  Sonnets  in 
the  "Henry  Irving"  edition  of  Shakespeare ;  and  those  to  "  Her- 
ford  "  are  to  Prof.  C.  H.  Herford's  "  Eversley  "  edition  of  Shake- 
speare. For  the  editions  of  Gildon,  Sewell,  and  Lintott,  which  are 
occasionally  quoted  on  textual  variations,  see  pp.  10,  1 1  above.  The 
references  to  "  Walker  "  are  to  William  Sidney  Walker's  Critical 
Examinatio?i  of  the  Text  of  Skakest>eare's  Plays  (London,  i860). 
For  those  to  Dowden,  Tyler,  and  Wyndham,  see  the  Preface. 
Those  to  the  "  standard  "  editors  of  Shakespeare  (M  alone,  Steevens, 
Johnson,  Knight,  Dyce,  Grant  White,  Hudson,  and  others)  need 
no  explanation. 


140 


sip 


Sonnet  CLIV 


NOTES 

The  Metre.  —  The  metre  of  the  Sonnets  is  the  regular  ten- 
syllabic  iambic  form  used  in  the  plays,  except  in  145,  where  it  is 
octosyllabic.  The  rhymes  do  nut  follow  the  Italian  (or  "  Petrar- 
chan "  )  model,  but  are   arranged   in  four   quatrain.-,  with  an  added 

141 


142  Notes 

couplet.  This  arrangement,  which  some  assume  to  have  been 
taken  from  Daniel,  appears  to  have  been  due  to  Surrey,  being  found 
in  some  of  his  sonnets  printed  in  TotteTs  Miscellany,  and  written 
many  years  earlier  than  the  publication  of  that  anthology  in  1557. 
The  Dedication. —  The  only  begetter.  Boswell  remarks  :  "The 
begetter  is  merely  the  person  who  gets  or  procures  a  thing.  So  in 
Dekker's  Satiromastix :  'I  have  some  cousin-germans  at  court  shall 
beget  you  the  reversion  of  the  master  of  the  king's  revels.'  W.  H. 
was  probably  one  of  the  friends  to  whom  Shakespeare's  '  sugred 
sonnets,'  as  they  are  termed  by  Meres,  had  been  communicated,  and 
who  furnished  the  printer  with  copy."  See,  however,  p.  20  above. 
White  says  :  "This  dedication  is  not  written  in  the  common  phrase- 
ology of  its  period  ;  it  is  throughout  a  piece  of  affectation  and  elabo- 
rate quaintness,  in  which  the  then  antiquated  prefix  be-  might  be 
expected  to  occur  ;  beget  being  used  for  get,  as  Wiclif  uses  betook 
for  took  in  Mark,  xv.  1  :  '  And  ledden  him  and  betoken  him  to 
Pilate.'  " 

I 

As  Boswell  and  Boaden  note,  this  and  the  following  sonnets  are 
only  an  expansion  of  V.  and  A.  169-174  :  "  Upon  the  earth's  in- 
crease why  shouldst  thou  feed,"  etc. 

"Herr  Krauss  (Skakespeare-Jahrbuck,  1881)  cites,  as  a  parallel 
to  the  arguments  in  favour  of  marriage  in  these  sonnets,  the  versified 
dialogue  between  Geron  and  Histor  at  the  close  of  Sidney's  Arca- 
dia, lib.  iii "  (Dowden). 

2.  Rose.  In  the  quarto  the  word  is  printed  in  italics  and  with  a 
capital.     See  on  20.  7  below. 

5.  Contracted.  Betrothed  ;  as  often  in  the  plays.  Cf.  T.  AT.  v. 
1.  268,  M.for  M.  v.  1.  330,  etc.  Tyler  explains  it  as  meaning,  "  Not 
having  given  extension  to  thyself  by  offspring." 

6.  Self-substantial  fuel.  "  Fuel  of  the  substance  of  the  flame 
itself"  (Dowden).  "You  feed  your  sight  on  the  sight  of  your- 
self" (Wyndham). 


Notes  143 


7.    Where  abundance  lies.     "That  is,  potentially  "  (Tyler). 

10.  Gaudy.  Gay  and  showy  ;  with  no  disparaging  sense.  Cf. 
L.  /,.  L.  v.  2.  812  :   "Nip  not  the  gaudy  blossoms  of  your  love." 

12.  Mak'st  ivaste  in  niggarding.     Cf.  R.  and  J.  i.  1.  223  :  — 

"  Benvolio.     Then  she  hath  sworn  that  she  will  still  live  chaste  ? 
Romeo.     She  hath,  and  in  that  sparing  makes  huge  waste." 

13.  Pity  the  world,  etc.  "  Pity  the  world,  or  else  be  a  glutton, 
devouring  the  world's  due,  by  means  of  the  grave  (which  will  else 
swallow  your  beauty  —  cf.  Sonn.  77.  6)  and  of  yourself,  who  re- 
fuse to  beget  offspring"  (Dowden).  Steevens  conjectured  "  be  thy 
grave  and  thee  "  =  "  be  at  once  thyself  and  thy  grave." 

14.  The  world's  due.  The  perpetuation  of  the  friend's  beauty. 
If  he  has  no  children,  the  grave  will  consume  not  only  his  own 
body  but  his  hope  of  posterity. 

II 

1.  Forty.  Schmidt  puts  this  passage  among  those  in  which  forty 
is  used  for  "  an  indefinite  number "  (as  often)  ;  but  the  context 
shows  that  it  has  distinct  reference  to  age.     Cf.  p.  41  above. 

4.  Tatter'd.  The  quarto  (the  ed.  of  1609)  has  "  totter'd,"  as  in 
26.  11  below.  The  early  eds.  have  tottered  (=  tattered)  in  several 
other  places  ;  as  Rich.  II.  iii.  3.  52,  I  Hen.  IV.  iv.  2.  37,  and  K.John, 
v.  5.  7  {tottering).      Weed  (=  garment)  occurs  often  in  S. 

7.  Within  thine  own  deep  sunken  eyes.     Only  in  your  aged  self. 

8.  Thriftless.  Unprofitable  ;  as  in  T.  JV.  ii.  2.  40  :  "  What 
thriftless  sighs  shall  poor  Olivia  breathe  !  " 

11.  Shall  sum  my  count,  etc.  Shall  square  my  account,  and  be 
my  excuse  when  1  am  old.  Wyndham  thinks  that  make  my  old 
excuse  is  "  obscure,"  but  it  does  not  seem  so  to  me. 

Ill 

W.  M.  Rossetti  {lives  of  Famous  Poets,  1877),  who  accepts  the 
"personal"  theory,  is  inclined  to  identify  the  youth  to  whom   this 


*44  Notes 

sonnet  is  addressed  rather  with  Pembroke  *:han  Southampton,  be- 
cause the  former  was  very  like  h:s  mother. 

5.  Uncar'd.  Unploughed  ;  used  by  S.  only  here  ;  but  ear 
(=till,  plough)  occurs  in  A.  W.  i.  3.  47,  Rich.  II.  iii.  2.  212,  A. 
and  C.  i.  2.  115,  i.  4.  49,  and  V.  and  A.  (dedication).  For  the  fig- 
ure, cf.  A.  and  C.  ii.  2.  233  :  "  He  plough'd  her,  and  she  cropp'd." 
Steevens  quotes  Jll.  for  AI.  i.  4.  43.  White  aptly  remarks  that  the 
expression  is  "  the  converse  of  the  common  metaphor  '  virgin  soil.'  " 

7.  Fond.  Foolish  ;  the  usual  meaning  in  S.  For  the  passage, 
Malone  compares  V.  and  A.  757-761. 

9.  Thy  mother 's  glass,  etc.     Cf.  Jt.  of  L.  1758,  where  Lucretius 

says : — 

"  Poor  broken  glass,  I  often  did  behold 
In  thy  sweet  semblance  my  old  age  new  born." 

10.  April.  This  indicates  that  the  friend  is  in  the  springtime  of 
life.     Minto  says  that  lines  9,  10  suit  the  Countess  of  Pembroke. 

11.  Windows  of  thine  age.  Malone  quotes  L.  C.  14  :  "Some 
beauty  peep'd  through  lattice  of  sear'd  age." 

13.  But  if,  etc.  But  if  you  mean  to  be  forgotten  in  time  to 
come,  etc. 

Live.     Capell  conjectures  "  love." 

IV 
3.   Nature's  bequest,  etc.    Dovvden  quotes  M.  for  M.  i.  I.  36  :  — 

"  Spirits  are  not  finely  touch'd 
But  to  fine  issues,  nor  Nature  never  lends 
The  smallest  scruple  of  her  excellence 
But,  like  a  thrifty  goddess,  she  determines 
Herself  the  glory  of  a  creditor, 
Both  thanks  and  use." 
Steevens  compares  Milton,  Comus,  679  :  — 

"  Why  should  you  be  so  cruel  to  yourself, 
And  to  those  dainty  limbs  which  Nature  lent 
For  gentle  usage,  and  soft  delicacy  ? 


Notes  145 


But  you  invert  the  covenants  of  her  trust, 

And  harshly  deal,  like  an  ill  borrower, 

With  that  which  you  receiv'd  on  other  terms." 

See  also  Id.  720-727. 

4.  Free.  Liberal,  bountiful.  Cf.  T.  and  C.  iv.  5.  100  :  "  His 
heart  and  hand  both  open  and  both  free,"  etc. 

8.  Live.  Subsist.  By  traffic  with  thyself  alone  it  is  impossible 
to  get  a  living.  The  miser,  who  hoards  his  money  instead  of  put- 
ting it  out  at  interest,  is  a  profitless  usurer. 

10.  Thou  of  thyself  etc.  You  cheat  yourself  of  continued  ex- 
istence. 

12.  Audit.  Printed  in  italics  and  with  a  capital  in  the  quarto. 
See  on  1.  2  above.  Acceptable  (note  the  accent)  is  used  by  S.  no- 
where else.  Acceptable  audit  =  satisfactory  settlement  of  your  debt 
to  Nature. 

14.  The  executor.  Malone  reads  "thy  executor"  (the  conjec- 
ture of  Capell). 


"In  Son ?i.  5  and  6,  youth  and  age  are  compared  to  the  seasons 
of  the  year  ;  in  7,  they  are  compared  to  morning  and  evening,  the 
seasons  of  the  day"  (Dowden). 

1.  Hours.  A  dissyllable  ;  as  often.  Cf.  Temp.  iii.  I.  91,  v.  I.  4, 
etc.      Here  the  quarto  has"howers." 

2.  Gaze.  Object  gazed  at  ;  as  in  Macb.  v.  8.  24  :  "  Live  to  be 
the  show  and  gaze  o'  the  time." 

3.  The  tyrants.     The  merciless  destroyers. 

4.  And  that  unfair,  etc.  "  And  render  that  which  was  once 
beautiful  no  longer  fair"  (Malone).  Unfair  is  the  only  instance 
of  the  verb  (or  the  word)  in  S.      Cf.  fairing  in  127.  6  below. 

6.    Confounds.     Destroys.     Cf.  8.  7,  60.  8,  64.  10,  and  69.  7. 

8.  Bareness.      Cf.  97.  4  below. 

9.  Distillation.  Perfumes  distilled  from  flowers.  Cf.  Sonn.  54 
and  M.  A*.  D.  i.  1.  76  :   "  Earthlier  happy  is  the  rose  distill'd,"  etc. 

SHAKKSl'EAKE'S   sonnets —  10 


146  Notes 

See  also  119.  2,  Hen.  V.  iv.  1.  5,  T.  and  C.  i.  3.  350,  etc.  The 
figure  is  a  favourite  one  with  S. 

II.  Bereft.  Taken  away,  lost.  Cf.  C.  of  E.  ii.  1.  40  :  "to  see 
like  right  bereft,"  etc.  Beauty's  effect  =  the  perfume  which  per- 
petuates the  memory  of  the  beauty  of  the  rose. 

14.  Leese.  Lose.  Dowden  notes  that  the  word  occurs  in  I  Kings, 
xviii.  5,  in  the  ed.  of  161 1  {lose  in  modern  eds.),  S.  has  it  only 
here.     It  occurs  often  in  Chaucer. 

VI 

"This  sonnet  carries  on  the  thoughts  of  4  and  5  —  the  distilling 
of  perfumes  from  the  former,  and  the  interest  paid  on  money  from 
the  latter"  (Dowden). 

I.  Ragged.     Rugged,  rough.     Cf.  A.  Y.  L.  ii.  5.  15,  etc. 

5.  Use.  Interest.  Cf.  V.  and  A.  768  :  "  But  gold  that  's  put  to 
use  more  gold  begets  ;  "  and  see  also  134.  10  below. 

6.  Happies.     Makes  happy  ;   the  only  instance  of  the  verb  in  S. 
13.    Self  willed.     Delius  conjectures  "  self-kill'd." 

VII 

5.  Steep-up.  The  word  occurs  also  in  P.  P.  121  (probably  not 
Shakespeare's).     Steep-down  he  uses  only  in  Oth.  v.  2.  280. 

7.  Yet  mortal  looks  adore,  etc.     Malone  quotes  R.  and/,  i.  1. 125  : 

"  Madam,  an  hour  before  the  worshipp'd  sun 
Peer'd  forth  the  golden  window  of  the  east." 

10.    Reeleth.     Dowden  quotes  R.  and  J.  ii.  3.3:  — 

"And  flecked  darkness  like  a  drunkard  reels 
From  forth  day's  path." 

Cf.  Rich.  III.  v.  3.  29  :   "The  weary  sun"  (at  setting). 

II.  Fore.  So  in  the  quarto,  as  regularly  in  the  early  eds.  ; 
"'fore"  in  the  modern  eds.  Converted '  =  turned  away  ;  as  in  11. 
4  below.  On  the  passage,  Dowden  compares  T.  of  A.  i.  2.  150  : 
"  Men  shut  their  doors  against  a  setting  sun." 


Notes  147 


12.  Trad.  Tract  ;  as  in  T.  of  A.  i.  I.  50  :  "leaving  no  track 
behind." 

13.  Out-going  in  thy  noon.  Not  referring  to  death,  as  outgoing 
might  seem  at  first  to  suggest,  but  to  the  "  decline  of  life,"  as  we 
say,  which  is  compared  to  the  decline  of  the  sun  after  reaching  the 
meridian. 

VIII 

I.  Music  to  hear.  Thou,  to  hear  whom  is  music.  Malone 
thought  S.  might  have  written  "Music  to  ear"  =  "Thou  whose 
every  accent  is  music  to  the  ear."  For  the  personal  use,  cf.  Sonn. 
128.  1  :   "thou,  my  music." 

5-14.  For  the  figurative  allusion  to  musical  harmony,  cf.  J\. 
of L.  1 131  fol. 

7.    Confounds.      Dost  waste  or  destroy.     See  on  5.  6  above. 

9-12.  Mark  how  one  string,  etc.  This  comparison  of  musical 
harmony  to  a  happy  family  singing  together  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  Shakespeare's  many  beautiful  references  to  music  — 
and  to  domestic  happiness  as  well.  It  is  a  figure  that  "  works  both 
ways."  For  the  figure  in  married,  cf.  82.  I,  T.  and  C.  i.  3.  100, 
K.  and  J.  i.   3.  S3,   etc. 

14.  Wilt  prove  none.  Perhaps,  as  Dowden  suggests,  an  allusion 
to  the  proverbial  expression  that  "one  is  no  number."  Cf.  136. 
8  :  "  Among  a  number  one  is  rcckon'd  none."  The  meaning 
seems  to  be  that,  "since  many  make  but  one,  one  will  prove  also 
less  than  itself,  that  is,  will  prove  none."  Wyndham  quotes  Mar- 
lowe, Hero  and  Leander  :  — 

"  One  is  no  number  ;  maids  are  nothing,  then, 
Without  the  sweet  society  of  men." 

IX 

4.  Makeless.  Without  a  make,  or  mate  ;  used  by  S.  only  here. 
For  make,  cf.  Spenser,/'.  Q.  iii.  11.  2  :  "That  was  as  trew  in  love 
as  Turtle  to  her  make  ;"   Id.  iv.  2.  30  :   "And   each   not  farre  be 


1 48  Notes 

hinde  him  had  his  make,"  etc.  In  Ben  Jonson's  ATew  Inn,  the 
Host  forms  a  hieroglyphic  to  express  the  proverb,  "A  heavy  purse 
makes  a  light  heart,"  which  he  interprets  thus  :  — 

"  There  't  is  exprest !  first,  by  a  purse  of  gold, 
A  heavy  purse,  and  then  two  turtles,  makes, 
A  heart  with  a  light  stuck  in  't,  a  light  heart." 

7.  Private.  Opposed  to  the  idea  of  general  implied  in  th» 
■world  above. 

9.  Unthrift.  Prodigal  ;  as  in  13.  13  below.  In  Rich.  II.  ii.  3, 
122,  the  only  other  instance  of  the  noun  in  S.,  it  is  =  good-for, 
nothing. 

10.  His.     Its  ;    referring  to  what. 

12.    The  user.     The  one  having  the  use  of  it,  the  possessor. 

X 

1.  For  shame,  etc.  For  very  shame,  etc.  Many  eds.  print 
"  For  shame  !  "  The  meaning  is  the  same,  but  the  rhythm  is 
marred. 

6.  Stick'st.  Dost  hesitate  or  scruple  ;  always  followed  by  an 
infinitive.  Cf.  Hen.  VIII  ii.  2.  127,  Cor.  ii.  3.  17,  Ham.  iv.  5. 
93,  etc. 

7.  Ruinate,  etc.  Cf.  R.  of  L.  944  :  "  To  ruinate  proud  build- 
ings," etc.  The  meaning  is,  "seeking  to  bring  to  ruin  that  house 
(that  is,  family)  which  it  ought  to  be  your  chief  care  to  repair." 
Dowden  adds  :  "These  lines  confirm  the  conjecture  that  the 
father  of  Shakspere's  friend  was  dead."  Cf.  13.  9-14  below 
Dowden  elsewhere  refers  to  this  as  an  objection  to  the  Herbert 
theory,  as  Herbert's  father  lived  until  1601,  while  Southampton's 
father  died  when  his  son  was  a  boy.  But  "you  had  a  father,"  etc., 
in  Sonn.  13  clearly  means,  "As  you  had  a  father,  become  a  father 
yourself."  For  the  figure,  cf.  also  3  I/en.  VI.  v.  1.  83  and  T.  G.  of 
I '.  v.  4.  9. 

9.     Thy  thought.     Thy  purpose  of  not  marrying. 


Noces  149 


XI 

I.  As  fast  as  thou  shall  wane,  etc.  This  has  been  called  "ob- 
scure," but  it  is  so  only  at  first  sight.  The  meaning  is  :  If  you  have 
children,  as  fast  as  you  grow  old  you  renew  in  your  offspring  {in 
one  0/  thine)  the  youth  you  have  lost  ;  thus,  as  it  were,  growing 
afresh  from  that  (youth)  which  thou  departest  from.  The  omission 
of  a  preposition  is  common  in  a  relative  clause  if  it  occurs  in  the 
antecedent  clause.  Possibly  departest  may  be  transitive,  as  in  2 
Hen.  IV.  iv.  5.  91  :  "  Depart  the  chamber,"  etc. 

4.  Convertest.  Dost  turn  away.  Cf.  7.  11  above  and  14.  12 
below.  Note  the  rhyme  with  departest,  and  see  also  14.  12,  17.  2, 
49.  10,  and  72.  6  below. 

7.    The  times.     "The  generations  of  men"  (Dowden). 

9.  For  store.  "To  be  preserved  for  use"  (Malone).  Schmidt 
makes  store  =  "  increase  of  men,  fertility,  population." 

II.  Look,  whom  she  best  endow1 'd,  etc.  To  whom  she  gave  much 
she  gave  more  ;  that  is,  the  power  of  procreation.  Cf.  Matthew, 
xiii.  12:  "  For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall 
have  more  abundantly."  Some  editors  read,  "  gave  thee  more  ;  " 
making  whom  she  best  endowed  —  "  however  liberal  she  may  have 
been  to  others"  (Malone). 

14.   Not  let  that  copy  die.     Cf.  T.  N.  i.  5.  261 : 

"  Lady,  you  are  the  cruell'st  she  alive, 
If  you  will  lead  these  graces  to  the  grave 
And  leave  the  world  no  copy." 


XII 

2.  Brave.  Beautiful.  Cf.  15.  8  below.  See  also  Ham.  ii.  2.  312  : 
"this  brave  o'erhanging  firmament,"  etc.  For  hideous  night,  cf.  5. 
6  :   "hideous  winter." 

3.  Violet  past  prime.  Dowden  compares  Ham.  i.  3.  7  :  "A 
violet  in  the  yuuth  of  primy  nature." 


1 50  Notes 


4.  Sable  curls  all  silver'd.  The  quarto  has  "  or  siluer'd  ;  "  cor- 
rected by  Malone.  The  Cambridge  ed.  notes  an  anonymous  con- 
jecture, "  o'er-silvered  with  white."     Steevens  compares  Ham.  i.  2. 

242  :  — 

"  It  was,  as  I  have  seen  it  in  his  life, 
A  sable  silver'd  ;  " 

referring  to  the  Ghost's  beard. 

6.    Canopy.     For  the  verb,  cf.  T.  N.  i.  1.  41,  Cymb.  ii.  2.  21,  etc, 

8.  Beard.     Cf.  M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  95  :  — 

"  the  green  corn 
Hath  rotted  ere  his  youth  attain 'd  a  beard." 

9.  Question  make.  Consider.  Elsewhere  it  is  =  doubt  ;  as  in 
M.  of  V.  i.  1.  156,  184,  L.  C.  321,  etc. 

10.  The  wastes  of  Time.     The  things  destroyed  by  Time. 

11.  Do  themselves  forsake.  In  dying  they  forsake  their  former 
loveliness. 

14.  Save  breed,  etc.  "Except  children,  whose  youth  may  set 
the  scythe  of  Time  at  defiance,  and  render  thy  own  death  less 
painful"  (Malone). 

XIII 

"  Note  you  and  your  instead  of  thy,  thine,  and  the  address  my 
love  for  the  first  time"  (Dowden).  Elsewhere  Dowden  remarks: 
"  In  the  first  fifty  sonnets,  you  is  of  extremely  rare  occurrence,  in 
the  second  fifty  you  and  thou  alternate  in  little  groups  of  sonnets, 
thou  having  still  a  preponderance,  but  now  only  a  slight  preponder- 
ance ;  in  the  remaining  twenty-six,  you  becomes  the  ordinary  mode 
of  address,  and  thou  the  exception.  In  the  sonnets  to  a  mistress, 
thou  is  invariably  employed.  A  few  sonnets  of  the  first  series,  as 
63-68,  have  "  my  love,"  and  the  third  person  throughout.  Thou 
and  you  are  to  be  considered  only  when  addressing  friend  or  lover, 
not  Time,  the  Muse,  etc.  Five  sets  of  sonnets  may  then  be  distin- 
guished :    1.  Using  thou.     2.  Using  you.     3.  Using  neither,  but  be- 


Notes  1 5 1 


longing  to  a  thou  group.     4.  Using  neither,  but  belonging  to  a  you 
group.     5.   Using  both  (24)."     In  his  larger  ed.  Dowden  adds  a 
tabular  classification  of  the  Sonnets  under  these  five  heads. 
1.    Yourself!    That  is,  master  of  yourself  ;   as  the  context  shows. 

5.  Beauty  which  you  hold  in  lease.  Malone  compares  Daniel's 
Delia,  47  :  — 

"  in  beauty's  lease  expir'd  appears 
The  date  of  age,  the  calends  of  our  death." 

6.  Determination.  End  ;  the  legal  sense.  On  the  passage,  cf. 
V.  and  A.  171  fol. 

9.  So  fair  a  house.  The  word  house  here  seems  to  refer  to  the 
ancestral  house,  or  family  ;  not,  like  the  "beauteous  roof"  of  10. 
7,  to  the  bodily  mansion. 

10.  Husbandry.  Economy,  thrift.  Cf.  Macb.  ii.  I.  4,  Ham.  i. 
3.  77,  etc. 

13.  Unthrifts  !     See  on  9.  9  above. 

14.  You  had  a  father.  Dowden  compares  A.  IV.  i.  1.  19  : 
"This  young  gentlewoman  had  a  father  —  O,  that  'had  !'  how 
sad  a  passage  't  is  !  "     See  on  10.  7  above. 

XIV 

1,2.    Dowden    quotes    Sidney,    Arcadia,    book    iii.  :    "O  sweet 
Philoclea,  .   .   .  thy  heavenly  face  is  my  astronomy"   (that  is,  as- 
trology, as  here)  ;    and  Astrophel  and  Stella  (ed.  1 591 ),  Sonn.  26  :  — 
"Though  dusty  wits  dare  scorn  astrology 


[I]  oft  forejudge  my  after-following  race 
By  only  those  two  stars  in  Stella's  face." 


So  Daniel,  Delia,  30  (on  Delia's  eyes)  :  — 

"Stars  are  they  sure,  whose  motions  rule  desires; 
And  calm  and  tempest  follow  their  aspects." 

6.    Pointing.     Pointing  out,  appointing.     Cf.  7'.  of  S.  iii.   1.   19, 
iii.  2.   1,   15,  etc.     See  also   Bacon,  Essay  45  (ed.  of  1625):   "But 


152  Notes 

this  to  be,  if  you  doe  not  point,  any  of  the  lower  Roomes,  for  a 
Dining  Place  of  Servants  ;  "  and  Essay  58  :  "  Pointing  Dayes  for 
Pitched  Fields,"  etc.     His  =  its  ;  as  in  9.  10  above. 

8.  Oft  predict.  Frequent  prediction  or  prognostication  ;  the 
only  instance  of  predict  as  a  noun  in  S.  Sewell  reads  "  ought  pre- 
dict "  (=  anything  predicted). 

9.  From  thine  eyes,  etc.  Cf.  L.  L.  L.  iv.  3.  350  :  "  From  women's 
eyes  this  doctrine  I  derive,"  etc. 

10.  Art.     Knowledge. 

11-14.  Dowden  puts  Truth  .  .  .  convert  and  Thy  end .  .  .  date 
in  quotation  marks,  explaining  read  such  art  as  =  "gather  by  read- 
ing such  truths  of  science  as  the  following." 

12.  Store.  See  on  11.  9  above.  Malone  paraphrases  thus  :  "If 
thou  wouldst  change  thy  single  state,  and  beget  a  numerous  prog- 
eny." 

Convert  here  rhymes  with  art,  as  in  Daniel's  Delia,  11,  with 
heart  (Dowden).     See  on  II.  4  above,  and  cf.  A',  of  L.  592. 


XV 

3.  Stage.  Malone  reads  "  state  ;  "  but,  as  Dowden  notes,  the 
theatrical  words  presenteth  and  shoxus  confirm  the  old  text.  It  is 
one  of  the  poet's  many  allusions  to  life  as  a  stage.  Cf.  A.  Y.  L.  ii. 
7.  139  fob,  At.  of  V.  i.  2.  77,  etc. 

7.    Vaunt.     Exult,  glory. 

9.  Conceit.  Conception,  imagination  ;  as  in  108.  13  below,  and 
often. 

II.    Debateth.     Combats,   contends.     Malone  quotes  A.  IV.  i.  2. 

75  =  — 

"  nature  and  sickness 

Debate  it  at  their  leisure." 

Schmidt  may  be  right  in  putting  the  present  passage  under  debate 
—  discuss. 


Notes  153 


XVI 

4.  With  means  more  blessed,  etc.  That  is,  better  than  the  com- 
memoration in  verse  referred  to  in  the  close  of  the  preceding 
sonnet. 

5.  The  top  of  happy  hours.     The  prime  of  joyous  youth. 

6.  Maiden  gardens  yet  unset.  Malone  compares  L.  C.  1 7 1  : 
"  Heard  where  his  plants  in  others'  orchards  grew."  See  also  3. 
5, 6  above. 

7.  Bear  your  living  flowers.  Some  would  change  your  to 
"you  ;"  but  your  lining  flowers  is  antithetical  to  "your  painted 
counterfeit." 

8.  Much  liker,  etc.  Much  more  like  you  than  your  painted  por- 
trait is.  For  counterfeit,  cf.  M.  of  V.  iii.  2.  115:  "fair  Portia's 
counterfeit,"  etc. 

9.  Lines  of  life.  Probably  =  "living  pictures,  that  is,  children  " 
(an  anonymous  explanation  in  the  Variorum  of  1821).  Dowden 
remarks:  "The  unusual  expression  is  selected  because  it  suits  the 
imagery  of  the  sonnet,  lines  applying  to  (1)  lineage,  (2)  delinea- 
tion with  a  pencil,  a  portrait,  (3)  lines  of  verse,  as  in  18.  12.  Lines 
of  life  are  living  lines,  living  poems  and  pictures,  children."  Wynd- 
ham  adds  a  fourth  allusion  from  palmistry  —  the  "line  of  life"  in 
M.  of  I',  ii.  2.  146.  Hudson  reads  "line  of  life,"  which  he  makes 
=  "living  line,  or  lineage." 

10.  This  time's  pencil.  This  may  be  =  any  painter  of  the  time. 
Massey  supposes  that  some  particular  artist  is  referred  to,  perhaps 
Mirevelt,  who  painted  the  Karl  of  Southampton's  portrait.  The 
quarto  reads  "this  (Times  pensel  or  my  pupill  pen),"  etc.,  and 
the  modern  eds.  generally  read  "  this.  Time's  pencil,"  etc.  Dowden 
asks:  "Are  we  to  understand  the  line  as  meaning  'Which  this 
pencil  of  Time  or  this  my  pupil  pen  ;  '  and  is  Time  here  conceived 
as  a  limner  who  has  painted  the  youth  ><>  lair,  but  whose  work  can- 
not last  for  future  generations?  In  lo,  '  Devouring  Time'  is  trans- 
formed  into  a  scribe  ;    mav  not  '  tyrant   Time  '  be  transformed  here 


1 54  Notes 

into  a  painter?  In  20  it  is  Nature  who  paints  the  face  of  the  beau- 
tiful youth.  This  masterpiece  of  twenty  years  can  endure  neither  3; 
painted  by  Time's  pencil,  nor  as  represented  by  Shakspere's  unskil- 
ful, pupil  pen.  Is  the  painted  counterfeit  Shakspere's  portrayal  in 
his  verse?  Cf.  53.  5."  Wyndham  makes  Time's  pencil  mean 
"  history,  record  at  large  ;  "  and  my  pupil  pen  =  "my  humbler  art." 
11.   Fair.     Beauty.     Cf.  18.  7,  68.  3,  and  83.  2  below. 

XVII 

1.  Who  will  believe,  etc.  "In  16  Shakspere  has  said  that  his 
1  pupil  pen  '  cannot  make  his  friend  live  to  future  ages.  He  now  car- 
ries on  this  thought ;  his  verse,  although  not  showing  half  his  friend's 
excellencies,  will  not  be  believed  in  times  to  come  "  (Dowden). 

2.  Deserts?  For  the  rhyme  with  parts,  see  on  14.  12  above. 
Cf.  72.  6  below. 

11.  Poet's  rage.  Poetical  extravagance.  Schmidt  regards  it  as 
contemptuous  for  "  poetical  inspiration." 

12.  Stretched  metre.  Exaggerated  verse.  Keats  took  this  line 
for  the  motto  of  his  Endymion. 

14.  You  should  live  twice.  Both  your  child  and  my  verse  would 
preserve  your  memory. 

XVIII 

"  Shakspere  takes  heart,  expects  immortality  for  his  verse,  and  so 
immortality  for  his  friend  as  surviving  in  it  "  (Dowden). 

3.  Rough  winds  do  shake,  etc.     Malone  quotes  Cymb.  i.  3.  36:  — 

"And,  like  the  tyrannous  breathing  of  the  north, 
Shakes  all  our  buds  from  growing;  " 
and  T.  of  S.  v.  2.  140:   "as  whirlwinds  shake  fair  buds." 

5.  Eye  of  heaven.  Cf.  Rich.  II.  iii.  2.  37  :  "  the  searching  eye 
of  heaven  ;  "  and  R.  of  I..  356 :  "  The  eye  of  heaven  is  out." 

7.  Fair.  Beauty.  See  on  16.  11  above.  So  in  10  below,  fair 
thou  owest—  beauty  thou  possessest.     For  orve,  cf.  70.  14  below. 


Notes  155 


8.    Untrimm'd.     Despoiled  of  its  charms. 

12.  To  time  thou  groivest.  Thy  fame  will  increase  with  the  lapse 
of  time. 

14.  So  long  lives  this.  This  anticipation  of  immortality  for  their 
works  was  a  common  conceit  with  the  poets  of  the  time.  Cf. 
Spenser,  Amorelli,  27,  69,  75  ;  Drayton,  Idea,  6,44;  Daniel,  Delia, 
39,  etc. 

XIX 

The  thought  in  the  last  line  of  18  is  continued  and  expanded 
in  this  sonnet. 

1.  Devouring.  Walker  conjectures  "Destroying;"  but  devour 
is  often  =  destroy  in  S.  Cf,  Rich.  II.,  i.  3.  284  :  "  Devouring  pes- 
tilence," etc. 

4.  Phcenix.  For  allusions  to  the  phoenix  in  S.,  cf.  Temp.  iii.  3. 
23,  A.  V.  I.  iv.  3.  17,  lien.  VIII.  v.  5.  41,  T.  of  A.  ii.  1.  32,  etc 
See  also  the  poem  of  The  Phoenix  and  the  Turtle. 

5.  Fleets.  The  quarto  has  "  fleet'st ;  "  but  the  analogy  of  8.  7 
("confounds")  favours  Dyce's  emendation,  which  is  also  adopted 
by  Dowden.  This  contraction  of  the  second  person  singular  of 
verbs  ending  in  -t  occurs  often  in  S.  in  the  early  eds.,  though  often 
"  emended  "  in  the  modern  ones.     See  Abbott's  Grammar,  §  340. 

10.   Antique.     Accented  on  the  first  syllable,  as  regularly  in  S. 

XX 

"His  friend  is  'beauty's  pattern'  (19.  12)  ;  as  such  he  owns  the 
attributes  of  male  and  female  beauty  "  (Dowden). 

Palgrave  omits  this  sonnet,  with  I  51,  153,  and  1 54. 

T.  With  Nature's  own  hand  painted.  Not  artificially  coloured  — 
a  fashion  which  S.  detested,  as  he  did  false  hair.  Cf.  Sonn.  68.  5 
below,  and  M.  of  V.  iii.  2.  94 :  — 

"  the  dowry  of  a  second  head, 
The  skull  that  bred  them  [the  "  golden  locks"]  in  the  sepulchre." 


156 


Notes 


See  also  T.  of  A.  iv.  3.  144  :  "  Thatch  your  poor  thin  roofs  With 
burdens  of  the  dead."     In  Z.  Z.  Z.  iv.  3.  258  Biron  says  :  — 
"  O,  if  in  black  my  lady's  brows  be  deck'd, 
It  mourns  that  painting  and  usurping  hair 
Should  ravish  doters  with  a  false  aspect." 

It  was  then  comparatively  a  recent  fashion.  Stow  says :  "  Women's 
periwigs  were  first  brought  into  England  about  the  time  of  the  mas- 
sacre of  Paris  "  (1572).  Barnaby  Rich,  in  161 5,  says  of  the  periwig- 
sellers  :  "  These  attire-makers  within  these  forty  years  were  not 
known  by  that  name.  .  .  .  But  now  they  are  not  ashamed  to  set 
them  forth  upon  their  stalls — such  monstrous  mop-poles  of  hair — ■ 
so  proportioned  and  deformed  that  but  within  these  twenty  or  thirty 
years  would  have  drawn  the  passers-by  to  stand  and  gaze,  and  to 
wonder  at  them." 

2.  Master-mistress  of  my  passion.  "  Who  sways  my  love  with 
united  charms  of  man  and  woman"  (Dowden). 

5.   Less  false  in  rolling.     Dowden  compares  Spenser,  F.  Q.  iii. 

'•4»!  — 

"  Her  wanton  eyes  (ill  signes  of  womanhed) 

Did  roll  too  lightly." 
Tyler  refers  to  139.  6  and  140.  14  below. 

7.  Hues.  Printed  in  the  quarto  in  italics  and  with  a  capital. 
This  led  Tyrwhitt  to  surmise  that  "  Mr.  W.  H."  might  be  Mr. 
William  Hews,  or  Hughes.  But  the  following  words  are  all  printed 
in  the  same  manner:  Hose,  I.  2;  Audit,  4.  12  ;  Statues,  55.  5  ; 
Intrim,  56.  9;  Alien,  78.  3;  Satire,  100.  11  ;  Autumne,  104.  5; 
Al/isme,  112.  9;  Alcumie,  114.  4;  Syren,  119.  1  ;  Hereticke,  124. 
9;  Informer,  125.  13  ;  Audite,  126.  13  ;  and  Quietus,  126.  14.  The 
word  hue  was  used  by  Elizabethan  writers  not  only  in  the  sense  of 
complexion,  but  also  in  that  of  shape,  form.  In  Spenser,  F.  Q.  v.  9. 
17,  Talus  tries  to  seize  Malengin,  who  transforms  himself  into  a 
fox,  a  bush,  a  bird,  a  stone,  and  then  a  hedgehog:- — 

"  Then  gan  it  [the  hedgehog]  run  away  incontinent, 
Being  returned  to  his  former  hew." 


Notes  157 


The  meaning  here  may  then  be,  A  man  in  shape  surpassing  all 
that  excite  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  men  and  women. 

ii.  Defeated.  Disappointed,  defrauded.  Cf.  M.  N.  D.  iv.  1. 
161:  — 

"  They  would  have  stolen  away  ;  they  would,  Demetrius, 
Thereby  to  have  defeated  you  and  me, 
You  of  your  wife,  and  me  of  my  consent." 

13.  Prick'd.  Marked.  Cf. /.  C.  iii.  1.  216,  etc. ;  and  for  the 
equivoque,  cf.  2  Hen.  IV.  iii.  2.  122. 

XXI 

I.  So  is  it  not,  etc.  "  The  face  of  Shakspere's  friend  is  painted 
by  Nature  alone,  and  so  too  there  is  no  false  painting,  no  poetical 
hyperbole,  in  the  description."  For  the  extravagancies  and  exag- 
gerations of  the  sonnet  writers  of  the  time,  Dowden  refers  to  Main 
(  Treasury  of  English  Sonnets),  who  cites  Spenser's  Amoretti,  9 
and  64  ;  Daniel's  Delia,  19;  Barnes's  Parthenophil  and  Partheno- 
phe,  Sonn.  48.  Compare  also  Griffin's  Fidessa,  Sonn.  39  ;  and  Con- 
stable's Diana  (1594),  the  6th  decade,  Sonn.  1.  Sonn.  130  is  in  the 
same  vein  as  this.  Wyndham  regards  this  sonnet  as  "  the  first  attack 
on  the  false  art  of  a  rival  poet."  For  Shakespeare's  aversion  to 
paint  in  women,  cf.  L.  I..  L.  iv.  3.  259,  263,  Af.  for  M.  iii.  2.  83,  T. 
cf  A.  iv.  3.  147,  etc. 

5.  Conplement.  Union,  combination.  The  quarto  has  "coople- 
ment."  Ciildon  reads  "  complement,"  and  Sewell  (2d  ed.)  "  com- 
pliment."    For  compare  as  a  noun,  cf.  35.  6  and  130.  14  below. 

8.    Rondure.     Circle.     Cf.  roundure  in  K.John,  ii.  1.  259. 

12.  Gold  candles.  Cf.  M.  of  V.  v.  1.  220:  "these  blessed  can- 
dles of  the  night  ;  "  R.  and  J.  iii.  5.9:  "  Night's  candles  are  bur»t 
out ;  "  and  Alacb.  ii.  1.5:  — 

"There's  husbandry  in  heaven; 
Their  candles  are  all  out." 

13.  That  like  of  hearsay  well.     Apparently  referring  to  the  com- 


158  Notes 


monplace  style  of  which  he  has  been  speaking.     Schmidt  makes  it 
=  "  that  fall  in  love  with  what  has  been  praised  by  others  ;  "  and 
Dowden  "  that  like  to  be  buzzed  about  by  talk."     For  like  of,  cf. 
Z.  Z.  Z.  i.  1.  107,  iv.  3.  158,  Much  Ado,  v.  4.  59,  etc. 
14.   I  will  not  praise,  etc.     Cf.  Z.  Z.  Z.  iv.  3.  239:  — 

"  Fie,  painted  rhetoric !     O,  she  needs  it  not; 
To  things  of  sale  a  seller's  praise  belongs." 

See  also  102.  3  below. 

XXII 

"The  praise  of  his  friend's  beauty  suggests  by  contrast  Shak- 
spere's  own  face  marred  by  time.  He  comforts  himself  by  claiming 
his  friend's  beauty  as  his  own"  (Dowden).  For  the  references  to 
the  poet's  age  in  the  Sonnets,  see  p.  41  above. 

3.  Furrows.     Cf.  Sonn.  2  above,  and  Rich.  III.  i.  3.  229. 

4.  Expiate.  Bring  to  an  end.  Cf.  Rich.  III.  iii.  3.  23  :  "  Make 
haste  ;  the  hour  of  death  is  expiate."  Here,  as  there,  Steevens 
conjectures  "  expirate,"  which  White  and  Hudson  adopt.  Surely 
there  is  no  need  of  coining  a  word  to  replace  one  which  S.  twice 
uses  and  which  can  be  plausibly  explained.  Malone  quotes  Chap- 
man's Byroris  Conspiracie,  in  which  an  old  courtier  speaks  of  him- 
self as  "  A  poor  and  expiate  humour  of  the  court." 

XXIII 

1.  Unperfect.  Used  by  S.  only  here  ;  but  unperfectness  occurs 
in  Oth.  ii.  3.  298.  Imperfect  we  find  in  Sonn.  43.  1 1  and  elsewhere, 
and  imperfection  six  times  in  the  plays.     On  the  present  passage, 

cf.  Cor.  v.  3.  40 :  — 

"  Like  a  dull  actor  now, 
I  have  forgot  my  part,  and  I  am  out, 
Even  to  a  full  disgrace." 

2.  Besides.  For  the  prepositional  use,  cf.  T.  iV.  iv.  2.  92:  "Alas, 
sir,  how  fell  you  besides  your  five  wits?  " 


Notes  1 59 


3.   Replete  with  too  much  rage.    The  rage  overcoming  self-control. 

5.  For  fear  of  trust.  Fearing  to  trust  myself.  Schmidt  makes  it 
=  "  doubting  of  being  trusted  ;  "  but  the  context  clearly  confirms 
the  explanation  I  have  given.  Dovvden  calls  attention  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  first  eight  lines,  5,  6  referring  to  1,  2,  and  7,  8,  to 

3.4- 

6.  Ceremony.  Hudson  says  that  the  word  "  is  here  used  as  a 
trisyllable,  as  if  spelt  cer'mony  ;"  but  how  he  would  scan  the  verse 
I  cannot  imagine.  The  word  is  clearly  a  quadrisyllable,  as  almost 
always  in  S. 

9.  Books.  Sewell  reads  "  looks  ;  "  but  the  old  reading  is  sup- 
ported by  13  below.  The  books,  as  Dowden  remarks,  are  probably 
the  manuscript  books  in  which  the  poet  writes  his  sonnets. 

12.  That  tongue.  Probably  =  any  tongue,  however  eloquent, 
rather  than  that  of  some  particular  person. 

XXIV 

1.  StelPd.  Fixed.  Cf.  Battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge  (Scott's  Border 
Minstrelsy')  :  "They  stell'd  their  cannons  on  the  height."  See  also 
Ji.  of  L.  1444  and  Lear,  iii.  7.  61.  Here  the  quarto  has  "  steeld  ;  " 
corrected  by  Dyce  (the  conjecture  of  Capell).  Some  take  "  steeld  " 
to  be  =  written  with  a  steel  point,  or  stylus. 

2.  Table.  The  tablet  or  surface  on  which  a  picture  is  painted. 
Cf.  A.   IV.  i.  1.  106  and  A'.  John,  ii.  1.  503. 

3.  The  frame.     That  is,  of  the  picture. 

4.  Perspective.  The  word  in  S.  means  elsewhere  either  a  kind 
of  picture  which  was  so  painted  as  to  be  distinct  only  when  viewed 
obliquely,  or  a  kind  of  glass  employed  to  produce  optical  illusions. 
Cf.  Rich.  II.  ii.  2.  18,  A.  W.  v.  3.  48,  and  T.  N.  v.  1.  224.  Here 
the  meaning  seems  to  be  that  the  poet's  eye  {the  painter)  is  that 
through  which  the  person  addressed  must  look  to  see  his  image,  or 
yicture,  hanging  in  the  bosom's  shop,  or  heart,  within.  The  accent 
of  perspective  in  S.  is  always  on  the  tirst  syllable. 


160  Notes 

Dowden  remarks:  "The  strange  conceits  in  this  sonnet  are  par- 
alleled in  Constable's  Diana  (1594),  Sonn.  5  (p.  4,  ed.  Hazlitt)  :  — 

1  Thine  eye,  the  glasse  where  I  behold  my  heart, 
Mine  eye,  the  window  through  the  which  thine  eye 
May  see  my  heart,  and  there  thyselfe  espy 
In  bloody  colours  how  thou  painted  art.' 

Compare  also  Watson's  Teares  of  Fancie  (1593),  Sonn.  45,  46  (ed. 
Arber,  p.  201)  :  — 

'  My  Mistres  seeing  her  faire  counterfet 
So  sweetelie  framed  in  my  bleeding  brest 


But  it  so  fast  was  fixed  to  my  heart,' "  etc. 
II.     Where  through.    Cf.  wkere-against  in  Cor.  iv.  5.  1 13,  where- 
out  in  T.  and  C.  iv.  5.  245,  where-until  in  L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  493,  etc. 
13.    Cunning.     Art,  skill ;   as  very  often. 

XXV 

"  In  this  sonnet  S.  makes  his  first  complaint  against  Fortune, 
against  his  low  condition.  He  is  about  to  undertake  a  journey  on 
some  needful  business  of  his  own  (26,  27),  and  rejoices  to  think 
that  at  least  in  one  place  he  has  a  fixed  abode,  in  his  friend's  heart  " 
(Dowden). 

Prof.  Hales  {Cortthill Mag.  Jan.  1877)  suggests  that  the  journeys 
spoken  of  in  the  Sonnets  may  have  been  from  London  to  Stratfurd. 

4.  Unlook'd  for.  "Not  sought  out,  not  'distinguished  ;  '  as  a 
favourite  was  said  to  be  '  distinguished'  by  a  look  or  word  from  his 
sovereign"  (Wyndham). 

5.  Great  princes'  favourites,  etc.     Cf.  Much  Ado,  iii.  1.8:  — 

"  Where  honeysuckles,  ripen'd  by  the  sun, 

Forbid  the  sun  to  enter,  like  favourites 

Made  proud  by  princes,"  etc. 
Hales  thinks  that  Essex  or  Raleigh  may  have  furnished  the  sugges 
lion  of  the  simile. 


Notes  1 6 1 

6.  The  marigold.  The  "garden  marigold"  (Calendula  offici- 
nalis"), of  which  Ellacombe  says:  "  It  was  always  a  great  favourite 
in  our  forefathers'  gardens,  and  it  is  hard  to  give  any  reason  why 
it  should  not  be  so  in  ours.  Yet  it  has  been  almost  completely 
banished,  but  may  often  be  found  in  the  gardens  of  cottages  and 
old  farmhouses,  where  it  is  still  prized  for  its  bright  and  almost 
everlasting  flowers  (looking  very  like  a  Gazania)  and  evergreen 
tuft  of  leaves,  w^hile  the  careful  housewife  still  picks  and  carefully 
stores  the  petals  of  the  flowers,  and  uses  them  in  broths  and  soups, 
believing  them  to  be  of  great  efficacy,  as  Gerarde  said  they  were, 
'to  strengthen  and  comfort  the  heart.'  The  two  properties  of  the 
marigold  —  that  it  was  always  in  flower,  and  that  it  turned  its 
flowers  to  the  sun  and  followed  his  guidance  in  their  opening  and 
shutting  —  made  it  a  very  favourite  flower  with  the  poets  and  em- 
blem writers.  ...  It  was  the  '  heliotrope  '  or  '  solsequium  '  or  '  turne- 
sol '  of  our  forefathers,  and  is  often  alluded  to  under  those  names." 

Of  the  contemporary  allusions  to  the  flower,  the  following  from 
Withers  is  a  good  example  :  — 

"  When  with  a  serious  musing  I  behold 
The  grateful  and  obsequious  Marigold, 
How  duly  every  morning  she  displays 
Her  open  breast  when  Phcebus  spreads  his  rays  ; 
How  she  observes  him  in  his  daily  walk, 
Still  bending  towards  him  her  small,  slender  stalk  ; 
How  when  he  down  declines  she  droops  and  mourns, 
Bedewed,  as  't  were,  with  tears  till  he  returns  ; 
And  how  she  veils  her  flowers  when  he  is  gone  ;  — 
When  this  I  meditate,  methinks  the  flowers 
Have  spirits  far  more  generous  than  ours, 
And  give  us  fair  examples  to  despise 
The  servile  fawnings  and  idolatries 
Wherewith  we  court  these  earthly  things  below, 
Which  merit  not  the  service  we  bestow." 

9.  Painful  =  laborious,  toilsome  ;  as  in  Temp.  iii.  1.  1,  T.  of  S 
v.  2.  149,  etc. 

SHAKESPEARE'S    SONNETS — II 


1 62  Notes 

9.  For  fight.  The  quarto  reads  "  for  worth  ;  "  corrected  by 
Malone  at  the  suggestion  of  Theobald,  who  also  proposed  forth  for 
the  rhyming  word  in  1 1  if  worth  was  retained.  White  adopts  the 
latter  reading.  Capell  proposed  "  for  might  ;  "  and  Steevens  sug- 
gested this  delectable  emendation  :  — 

"  The  painful  warrior  for  worth  famoused, 
After  a  thousand  victories  once  foil'd, 
Is  from  the  book  of  honour  quite  razed,"  etc. 

XXVI 

Drake  (Shahspeare  and  His  Times,  vol.  ii.  p.  63)  notes  that 
the  language  of  the  Dedication  to  the  Rape  of  Lucrece,  and  that  of 
part  of  the  present  sonnet  are  almost  precisely  the  same.  The 
Dedication  runs  thus  :  "  The  love  I  dedicate  to  your  Lordship  is 
without  end.  .  .  .  The  warrant  I  have  of  your  honourable  disposi- 
tion, not  the  worth  of  my  untutored  lines,  makes  it  assured  of  ac- 
ceptance. What  I  have  is  yours,  what  I  have  to  do  is  yours  ; 
being  part  of  all  I  have  devoted  yours.  Were  my  worth  greater,  my 
duty  would  show  greater."     Capell  had  already  noted  the  parallel. 

2.  My  duty  strongly  knit.     Steevens  quotes  Macb.  iii.  1.  15. 

7.  Some  good  conceit.  Some  happy  idea.  See  on  15.  9  above, 
and  cf.  108.  13  below.  Bestow  it  =  give  it  a  place,  treasure  it  up. 
Cf.  C.  of  E.  i.  2.  78,  M.  of  V.  ii.  2.  179,  etc. 

9.  Star.     For  the  astrological  allusion,  cf.  14.  1  and  25.  1  above. 

10.  Aspect.     Accented  on  the  last  syllable,  as  regularly  in  S. 

11.  Tattered.     The  quarto  has  "tottered."     See  on  2.  4  above. 

12.  Respect.  Regard,  consideration.  The  quarto  has  "their" 
for  thy,  as  in  27.  10  below. 

XXVII 

Evidently  written  on  a  journey. 

3.  Head.  Dowden  omits  the  comma  after  this  word,  thinking 
that  the  construction  may  be  "a  journey  in  my  head  begins  to 
work  mv  mind." 


Notes  163 


4.    To  work  my  mind.     That  is,  to  set  it  to  work. 

6.  Intend.  Here  Schmidt  makes  the  word  =  "  bend,  direct  ;  " 
as  in  M.  IV.  ii.  1.  188,  1  Hen.  IV.  iv.  1.  92,  A.  and  C.  v.  2.  201, 
etc. 

7.  Drooping.     Drowsy,  ready  to  close. 

9.  Imaginary.  Imaginative.  Cf.  K.  John,  iv.  2.  265  :  "foul 
imaginary  eyes  of  blood  "  (that  is,  the  sanguinary  eyes  of  my  im- 
agination), etc. 

10.  Shadow.  Image  ;  as  often.  Cf.  37.  10,  43.  5,  53.  2,  61.  4, 
98.  14,  etc. 

11.  Like  a  jewel,  etc.     Cf.  R.  and  J.  i.  5.  47  :  — 

"  It  seems  she  hangs  upon  the  cheek  of  night 
Like  a  rich  jewel  in  an  Ethiope's  ear." 

13.  By  day  my  limbs,  etc.  By  day  my  limbs  find  no  quiet  for 
myself,  that  is,  on  account  of  my  travel  ;  by  night  my  mind  finds 
no  quiet  for  thee,  that  is,  thinking  of  thee.  For  the  interlaced  or 
"chiastic"  construction  (a  favourite  one  with  S.),   cf.   fV.  T.  iii.  2. 

164:  — 

"  though  I  with  death  and  with 
Reward  did  threaten  and  encourage  him." 


Cf.  also  75.  n,  12  below. 


XXVIII 


A  continuation  of  the  preceding  sonnet. 

5.    Kither's.     The  quarto  has  "  ethers,"  the  ed.  of  1640  "  others." 
9.    To  please  him,  etc.     Most  eds.  put   a  comma  after  him.     On 
the  whole  I  prefer  to  omit  it,  as  the  Cambridge  ed.  does. 

11.  Swart-complexion' d.  First  hyphened  by  Gildon.  For  swart 
(=  dark,  black),  cf.  C.  of  /■'.  iii.  2.  104,  A'.  John,  iii.  I.  46,  etc. 

12.  '/'wire.  Peep,  twinkle  ;  used  by  S.  only  here.  Boswell 
quotes  Jonson,  Sad  Shepherd,  ii.  I  :  "  Which  maids  will  twire  at, 
:tween  their  fingers  thus."  Xares  adds  Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 
Women  Pleased,  iv.  I  :   "  I  saw  the  wench  that  twir'd  and  twinkled 


164  Notes 

at  thee  ;  "  and  Marston,  Antonio  and  Mellida,  act  iv. :  "  I  saw  a 
thing  stir  under  a  hedge,  and  I  peeped,  and  I  spied  a  thing,  and  I 
peered  and  I  tweered  underneath."  Gildon  reads  "  tweer  out." 
For  gild' si  the  quarto  has  "guil'st  ;  "  corrected  by  Sewell. 

14.  Strength.  The  quarto  has  "  length  ;  "  corrected  by  Dyce 
(the  conjecture  of  Capell).  Dowden,  who  retains  the  old  text 
(though  with  some  hesitation),  explains  it  thus  :  "Each  day's 
journey  draws  out  my  sorrows  to  a  greater  length  ;  but  this  process 
of  drawing-out  does  not  weaken  my  sorrows,  for  my  night -thoughts 
come  to  make  my  sorrows  as  strong  as  before,  nay  stronger." 
Capell  suggested  "draw  my  sorrows  stronger  .  .  .  length  seem 
longer." 

XXIX 

2.   Beweep.     Cf.  Rich.  III.  i.  3.  328,  i.  4.  251,  ii.  2.  49,  etc. 

6.  Like  him,  like  him.  The  pronoun  refers  to  different  persons, 
like  this  man  and  that  man  below. 

7.  Art.     Literary  skill. 

8.  With  what  I  most  enjoy  contented  least.  "  The  preceding 
line  makes  it  not  improbable  that  S.  is  here  speaking  of  his  own 
poems"  (Dowden). 

12.  Sings  hymns  at  heaven's  gate.  Malone  quotes  Cytnb.  ii.  3. 
21  :  "  Hark,  hark  !  the  lark  at  heaven's  gate  sings  ;  "  and  Reed 
adds  Lyly,  Campaspe,  v.  1  (referring  to  the  lark)  :  — 

"  How  at  heaven's  gate  she  claps  her  wings, 
The  morn  not  waking  till  she  sings." 

Milton  may  have  remembered  S.  (as  not  unfrequently  elsewhere) 
when  he  wrote  {P.  L.  v.  198)  :  — 

"  ye  birds, 
That  singing  up  to  heaven-gate  ascend,"  etc. 

Stale  is  the  subject  of  sins,  not  lark,  as  some  make  it  by  their 
pointing. 


Notes  165 


xxx 

I.  Sessions  of  sweet  silent  thought.     For  the  legal  use  of  sessions 

(indicated  by  summon),  cf.  Oth.  iii.  3.  138:  — 
"  who  has  a  breast  so  pure 
But  some  uncleanly  apprehensions 
Keep  leets  and  law-days  and  in  session  sit 
With  meditations  lawful  ?  " 

4.  My  dear  time's  waste.     Those  dear  to  me  now  gone. 

6.  Dateless.  Endless;  the  only  sense  in  S.  Cf.  153.6  below; 
and  see  also  Rich.  II.  i.  3.  151  and  K.  and  J.  v.  3.  115. 

8.  Moan  the  expense.  Lament  the  loss.  Dowden  thinks  it 
means  "  pay  my  account  of  moans  for,"  being  explained  by  what 
follows  ("  tell  o'er,"  etc.) ;  but  I  cannot  agree  with  him.  For 
expense,  cf.  94.  6  and  129.  I  below. 

10.  Tell.  Count  ;  as  in  138.  12  below.  In  this  line  and  the 
next,  note  the  lingering  sadness  of  the  long  o's.  Cf.  the  effect  of 
the  long  monosyllables  in  4  above. 

XXXI 

1-4.    All  the  friends  I  have  lost  live  again  in  you. 

5.  Obsequious.     Funereal.     Cf.  Ham.  i.  2.  92. 

6.  Dear  religious  love.  "  In  A  Lover's  Complaint,  the  beautiful 
youth  pleads  to  his  love  that  all  earlier  hearts  which  had  paid 
homage  to  him  now  yield  themselves  through  him  to  her  service 
(a  thought  similar  to  that  of  this  sonnet)  ;  one  of  these  fair  ad- 
mirers was  a  nun,  a  sister  sanctified,  but  (250)  :  '  Religious  love 
put  out  Religion's  eye'"  (Dowden).  Walker  would  read  "  dear- 
religious,"  which  he  explains  as  "  making  a  religion  of  its 
affections." 

7.  Interest.  Right,  claim.  Cf.  A',  of  L.  1798  :  "my  sorrow's 
interest,"  etc. 

8.  Thee.     The  quarto  has  "  there  ;  "  corrected  by  Gildon. 

II.  Parts  of  me.      Shares  in  me,  claims  upon  me. 


1 66  Notes 

XXXII 

1.  Well-contented.  The  meaning  is  obscure.  Possibly  it  refers 
to  the  love  of  his  friend  which  (as  the  preceding  sonnet  declares) 
has  made  up  for  all  the  losses  he  has  suffered. 

4.  Lover,     For  the  masculine  use,  cf.  M.  of  V.  iii.  4.  7,  17,  etc. 

5.  6.  Dowden  asks  :  "May  we  infer  from  these  lines  (and  10) 
that  S.  had  a  sense  of  the  wonderful  progress  of  poetry  in  the  time 
of  Elizabeth  ?  "  The  reference  is  probably  to  the  general  im- 
provement that  may  be  expected  in  the  future. 

7.   Reserve.     Preserve  ;   as  in  Per.  iv.  1 .  40 :  — 

"  reserve 
That  excellent  complexion,"  etc. 

XXXIII 

"Anew  group  seems  to  begin  with  this  sonnet.  It  introduces 
the  wrongs  done  to  S.  by  his  friend"  (Dowden). 

2.  Flatter.  "As  a  sovereign  flatters  a  courtier  with  a  look" 
(Wyndham).     Cf.  Sonn.  25.  4  fol. 

4.    Heavenly  alchemy.     Cf.  K.John,  iii.  I.  77:  — 
"  To  solemnize  this  day  the  glorious  sun 
Stays  in  his  course  and  plays  the  alchemist, 
Turning  with  splendour  of  his  precious  eye 
The  meagre  cloddy  earth  to  glittering  gold." 

See  also  M.  N.  D.  iii.  2.  391-393. 

6.  Rack.  A  mass  of  floating  clouds.  Cf.  Temp.  iv.  I.  156,  A, 
and  C.  iv.  14.  10,  etc.  Dyce  quotes  Bacon,  Sylva  Sylvarurn,  115  : 
"  The  winds  in  the  upper  region,  which  move  the  clouds  above 
(which  we  call  the  rack)."  On  the  passage,  Capell  compares 
I   Hen.  IV.  i.   2.    221    fol. 

7.  Forlorn.  Accented  on  the  first  syllable  because  followed  by 
a  noun  so  accented.  Cf.  T.  G.  of  V.  i.  2.  124:  "  Poor  forlorn  Pro- 
teus, passionate  Proteus."  For  the  other  accent,  see  R.  of  L.  1500 
and  L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  805.     See  also  on  107.  4  below. 


Notes  167 

9.  Even  so  my  sun,  etc.  A  Mr.  G.  T.  Smith,  of  Tasmania 
{Victorian  Rev.  Dec.  1879),  says:  "The  secret  of  the  Sonnets  [the 
first  126J  is  simple.  They  were  addressed  to  Shakespeare's  son  ; 
not  a  son  by  Anne  Hathaway,  but  to  an  illegitimate  one  by  some 
other  woman. — The  evidence  would  go  to  show  by  some  woman  of 
high  rank.  .  .  .  Sonnet  33  is  conclusive,  even  if  we  did  not  know 
Shakespeare's  love  of  the  pun  or  play  on  a  word  :  '  Even  so  my 
sun,'  etc."     This  strikes  me  as  "simple  "  in  another  sense. 

12.  The  region  cloud.  S.  uses  region  several  times  as  =  air  or 
airy.     Cf.  Ham.  ii.  2.  509  :  — 

"  the  dreadful  thunder 
Doth  rend  the  region;" 

and  again  in  607  :   "  the  region  kites." 

14.  Stain.  Grow  dim,  as  if  stained  or  soiled.  Cf.  L.  L.  L.  ii.  I. 
48  :  "  If  virtue's  gloss  will  stain  with  any  soil,"  etc.  Cf.  the  tran- 
sitive use  in  35.  3  below.  See  also  the  noun  in  V.  and  A.  9  : 
"  Stain  to  all  nymphs"  (that  is,  by  eclipsing  them),  etc. 

XXXIV 

A  continuation  of  the  preceding  sonnet. 

4,  Rotten  smoke.  Cf.  "  rotten  damps,"  {R.  of  L.  778),  "  rotten 
rlews  "  {Cor.  ii.  3.  35),  "reek  of  the  rotten  fens"  {Id.  iii.  3.  121), 
and  "  Rotten  humidity,"  (  T.  of  A.  iv.  3.  2).  In  all  these  passages 
it  refers  to  unwholesome  vapours.      For  bravery,  cf.  brave  in  12.  2. 

12.  Cross.  The  quarto  has  "  losse  ;  "  corrected  by  Malonc 
(the  conjecture  of  Capell).     Cf.  42.  12  and  133.  8. 

XXXV 

4.  Canker.     Canker-worm  ;    as  in  70.  7,  95.  2,  and  99.  12  below. 

5.  Make  faults.  Cf.  R.  of  I..  S04  :  "all  the  faults  which  in  thy 
reign  ave  made;  "    IV.   T.  iii.  2.  21S  :    "All  faults  1  make,"  etc. 

6.  Authorizing.     Accented  on  the  second  s\ liable,  as  elsewhere 


1 68  Notes 

in  S.  For  compare,  see  on  21.  5  above.  The  meaning  u  :  "  giving 
a  precedent  for  thy  fault  by  comparing  it  with  mine."  (Palgrave) ; 
or  with  that  of  other  men,  as  the  context  implies. 

7.  Amiss.  For  the  noun,  cf.  151.  3  below  and  Ham.  iv.  5.  18. 
The  line  seems  to  mean  :  sinning  myself  in  palliating  your  offence. 

8.  Thy  .  .  .  thy.  The  quarto  reads  "  their  .  .  .  their  ;  "  cor- 
rected by  Malone.  Steevens  explains  the  line  thus  :  "  Making 
the  excuse  more  than  proportioned  to  the  offence." 

9.  Sense.  Reason.  Malone  conjectured  "  incense  "  for  in  sense. 
Dowden  says  :  "  If  we  receive  the  present  text,  '  thy  adverse 
party '  must  mean  Shakspere.     But  may  we  read  :  — 

'  For  to  thy  sensual  fault  I  bring  in  sense,  [that  is,  judgment, 
Thy  adverse  party,  as  thy  advocate.'  reason] 

Sense  —  against  which  he  has  offended  —  brought  in  as  his  advo- 
cate ? "  It  seems  to  me  better  to  connect  it  with  the  following 
line,  as  the  original  text  does.     No  change  is  called  for. 

12.  Love  and  hate.     Love  for  his  friend,  hate  for  his  conduct. 

13.  Accessary.  Accomplice.  The  word  occurs  again  in  J?,  of  L. 
1658,  with  the  same  accent  as  here.     S.  does  not  use  accessory. 

14.  Sweet  thief.  Cf.  40.  9  :  "  gentle  thief."  For  soarly  Gildon 
has  "  sorely." 

XXXVI 

I.  We  two  must  be  twain.  Malone  compares  T.  and  C.  iii.  I. 
no  :  "She  '11  none  of  him  ;   they  two  are  twain." 

4.  Borne.     The   Variorum  of  1821  misprints  "born." 

5.  Respect.  Regard,  affection  ;  as  in  M.  N.  D.  ii.  I.  209.  Lear, 
i.  I.  128,  etc.     Dowden  quotes  Cor.  iii.  3.  112  :  — 

"  I  do  love 
My  country's  good  with  a  respect  more  tender. 
More  holy  and  profound  than  my  own  life." 

Palgrave  explains  one  respect  as  =  "  one  thing  we  look  to,"  and 
Tyler  as  =  "  perfect  similarity." 


Notes  169 


6.  A  separable  spite.  "  A  cruel  fate  that  spitefully  separates  us 
from  each  other"  (Malone).  Separable  is  used  by  S.  only  here. 
For  the  active  use  of  adjectives  in  -ble,  cf.  comfortable  {Lear,  i.  4. 
328),  Receivable  (T.  N.  iv.  3.  21,  Rich.  II.  ii.  3.  8),  etc. 

9.  Evermore.     Walker  conjectures  "  ever  more." 

10.  My  bewailed  guilt.  Explained  by  Spalding  and  others  as 
"the  blots  that  remain  with  S.  on  account  of  his  profession"  as  an 
actor  ;   but    Dowden    thinks   the    meaning   may  be  :  "  I  may  not 

.aim  you  as  a  friend,  lest  my  relation  to  the  dark  woman  —  now  a 

latter  of  grief — -should  convict  you  of  faithlessness  in  friendship." 

The  interpretation  of  many  expressions  in  the  Sonnets  must  depend 

upon   the    theory  we  adopt   concerning  their  autobiographical  or 

non-autobiographical  character,  and  their  relations  to  one  another. 

12.  That  honour.     The  honour  you  give  me. 

13,  14.  These  lines  are  repeated  at  the  end  of  Sonn.  96.  See 
p.  13  above. 

XXXVII 

3.  So  I,  made  lame.  Cf.  89.  3  below  :  "  Speak  of  my  lameness, 
and  I  straight  will  halt."  Capell  and  others  have  inferred  that 
S.  was  literally  lame.  Malone  remarks  :  "In  the  89th  Sonnet  the 
poet  speaks  of  his  friend's  imputing  to  him  a  fault  of  which  he  was 
not  guilty,  and  yet,  he  says,  he  would  acknowledge  it  :  so  (he  adds) 
were  he  to  be  described  as  lame,  however  untruly,  yet  rather  than 
his  friend  should  appear  in  the  wrong,  he  would  immediately  halt. 
If  S.  was  in  truth  lame,  he  had  it  not  in  his  power  to  halt  occasion- 
ally for  this  or  any  other  purpose.  The  defect  must  have  been 
fixed  and  permanent.  The  context  in  the  verse  before  us  in  like 
manner  refutes  this  notion.  If  the  words  are  to  be  understood 
literally,  we  must  then  suppose  that  our  admired  poet  was  also  poor 
and  despised,  for  neither  of  which  suppositions  is  there  the  smallest 
ground."  Dowden  says  :  "  S.  uses  to  lame  in  the  sense  of  disable; 
here  the  'worth  and  truth  of  his  friend  are  set  over  against  the 
lameness  of  S.  ;    the  lameness,  then,  is  metaphorical  —  a  disability 


170  Notes 


to  join  in  the  joyous  movement  of  life,  as  his  friend  does."  Fleay 
believes  that  the  lameness  is  "  that  of  Shakespeare's  verses." 

Dearest.  Most  intense;  as  often.  Cf.  Ham.  i.  2.  182  :  "my 
dearest  foe,"  etc. 

7.  Entitled  in  thy  parts.  Finding  their  title  or  claim  to  the 
throne  in  thy  qualities.     Cf.  R.  of  L.  57  :  — 

"  But  beauty,  in  that  white  intituled, 
From  Venus'  doves  doth  challenge  that  fair  field  ;  " 

Malone  explains  entitled  as  "  ennobled."  The  quarto  has  "  thei, 
parts,"  which  Schmidt  would  retain,  explaining  the  passage  thus  : 
"  or  more  excellencies,  having  a  just  claim  to  the  first  place  as  their 
due."  Wyndham  reads  "  Intituled  "  and  retains  "  their,"  seeing 
allusions  to  heraldry  in  the  passage. 

IO.  Shadow.  S.  is  fond  of  contrasting  shadow  and  substance. 
Cf.  M.  W.  ii.  2.  215,  M.  of  V.  iii.  2.  128,  Rich.  II.  ii.  2.  14,  etc. 


XXXVIII 

3.  Argument.  Theme,  subject  ,  as  in  76.  10,  79.  5,  100.  8, 
103.  3,  105.  9,  etc. 

6.    Stand  against  thy  sight.     Endure  thy  sight. 

8.  Invention.  Imagination,  or  the  poetic  faculty.  Cf.  76.  6, 
103.  7,  and  105.  1 1  below.  To  give  it  light  =  cause  it,  bring  it  to 
light. 

12.  Date.     Time  ;   as  often.     Cf.  122.  4,  123.  5,  etc. 

13.  Curious.     Fastidious,  critical.     Cf  A.  IV.  i.  2.  20  :  — 

"  Frank  Nature,  rather  curious  than  in  haste, 
Hath  well  compos'd  thee." 

Prof.  Karl  Goedeke  (Deutsche  Rundschau,  March,  1877)  believes 
that  this  sonnet  was  addressed  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  says  that 
29,  44,  45,  48,  50,  51,  and  97  were  addressed  to  his  wife,  and  108 
to  his  son  Hamnet. 


Notes  171 


XXXIX 

7.  That  by  this  separation,  etc.  "  Separation  justifies  the  poet's 
praise  of  his  friend,  which  was  not  justified  while  their  dear  love 
was  undivided  ;  for  to  praise  him  then  was  to  praise  himself,  since 
they  were  one,  the  friend  being  all  the  better  part  of  the  poet " 
(Wyndham). 

12.  Which  time  and  thoughts,  etc.  Which  doth  so  sweetly  be- 
guile time  and  thoughts.  Malone  takes  thoughts  to  be  =  melan- 
choly. See  on  44.  9  below.  The  quarto  has  "dost"  for  doth; 
corrected  by  Malone.     Wyndham  retains  and  defends  "  dost." 

13,  14.  "Absence  teaches  how  to  make  of  the  absent  beloved 
two  persons  :  one,  absent  in  reality  ;  the  other,  present  to  imagi- 
nation "  (Dowden). 

XL 

This  sonnet,  like  the  one  before  it  and  the  two  that  follow, 
refers  to  the  theft  of  the  poet's  mistress  by  his  friend.  But  the 
poet  and  his  friend  being  one,  no  fraud  or  robbery  could  be 
committed. 

5,  6.  Then  if  for  love  of  me  you  receive  her  whom  I  love,  I  can- 
not blame  you  for  using  her.  For  in  6  =  because  ;  as  in  54.  9  and 
106.  II  below.  On  the  passage,  cf.  I  lien.  VI.  v.  3.  77,  Rich  III. 
i.  2.  228,  and  T.  A.  ii.  1.  S2. 

7,  8.  "Yet  vou  are  to  blame  if  you  deceive  yourself  by  an  un- 
lawful union  while  you  refuse  loyal  wedlock"  (Dowden).  The 
quarto  has  "  this  selfe  "  for  thyself;  corrected  by  ( iildon.  Wynd- 
ham retains  "this  self,"  as  referring  to  "the  identity  of  himself 
and  his  friend,  stated  in  39.  1-4  and  re-stated  in  42.  13,  14." 
He  also  quotes  133.!)  and  135.  14.  He  takes  'what  thyself  re/usest 
to  mean  "my  love  for  you." 

10.  All  my  poverty.  The  poor  little  that  I  have.  Cf  103.  I 
below.      Thee  is  the  "ethical   dative." 


IJ2  Notes 


XLI 

I.  Pretty.     Bell  and  Palgrave  read  "  petty."     Cf.  M.  of  V.  iv.  d 

37:  — 

"  But  love  is  blind,  and  lovers  cannot  see 

The  pretty  follies  that  themselves  commit." 
Liberty  =  license  ;  as  often.     Cf.  Ham.  ii.  1.  24,  32,  etc. 
3.    Befits.     The  singular  verb  is  often  found  with  two  singular 
subjects. 

5,  6.    Gentle  thou  art,  etc.    Steevens  quotes  1  Hen.  VI.  v.  3.  77 :  — 

"  She's  beautiful,  and  therefore  to  be  woo'd  ; 
She  is  a  woman,  therefore  to  be  won." 

8.  She  have.  The  quarto  reads  "  he  have ;  "  corrected  by 
Malone  (the  conjecture  of  Tyrwhitt).  Dowden  and  Wyndham 
think  that  the  old  text  may  be  right. 

9.  Ay  me!  Hudson  and  some  others  read  "Ah  me  !"  which 
is  not  found  in  S.  except  in  R.  and  J.  v.  1.  10,  where  it  may  be  a 
misprint.     Ay  me  !  occurs  very  often. 

My  seat.  Malone  reads  :  "  thou  mightst,  my  sweet,  forbear  ;  " 
but  the  old  reading  is  confirmed  and  explained  by  Oth.  ii.  I.  304  :  — 

"  I  do  suspect  the  lusty  Moor 
Hath  leap'd  into  my  seat." 

Dr.  Ingleby  adds,  as  a  parallel,  A',  of  L.  412,  413. 

10.  Chide.  Check  or  restrain  the  beauty  that  leads  you  astray. 
Cf.  8.  7  above. 

12.  Truth.  Duty,  allegiance  ;  that  of  the  lady  to  S.  and  the 
friend  to  S. — therefore  twofold. 

XLII 

This  sonnet  closes  the  group  that  began  with  33. 

7.    Abuse  me.     Use  me  ill. 

9.    My  love's  gain.     That  is,  my  mistress's  gain. 

II.  Both  txvain.     Cf.  L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  459  :    "  I  remit  both  twain." 
12.    This  cross.     Cf.  34.  12  and  133.  8. 


Notes  173 

XLIII 

1.  Wink.  Shut  my  eyes.  Cf.  56.  6  and/,  and  A.  121,  etc. 
See  also  the  noun  in  Temp.  ii.   I.  285,  W.  T.  i.  2.  317,  etc. 

2.  Unrespected.  Unnoticed,  unregarded  ;  as  in  54.  10  below, 
the  only  other  instance  of  the  word  in  S. 

4.  And  darkly  bright,  etc.  "  Become  bright,  though  not  seeing, 
when,  though  closed,  they  are  directed  in  the  darkness"  (Tyler). 
Cf.  Sonn.  27,  where  the  sleepless  eyes  are  described  as  seeing  his 
friend's  image  in  the  darkness  of  night. 

5.  Whose  shadow,  etc.  Whose  image  makes  bright  the  shadows, 
or  shades,  of  night. 

11.     Thy.     The  quarto  again  misprints  "  their." 
13,  14.    All  days  are  nights  to  see,  etc.      "All  days  are  gloomy 
to  behold,"  etc.  (Steevens).      Malone  wished  to  read  "nights  to 
me  ;  "  and  Lettsom  conjectured  :  — 

"All  days  are  nights  to  me  till  thee  I  see, 
And  nights  bright  days  when  dreams  do  show  me  thee." 

Thee  me  =  thee  to  me. 

XLIV 

The  poet  explains  that  the  elements  of  fire  and  air  are  with  his 
friend,  leaving  himself  only  the  heavier  ones  of  earth  and  water. 

I.  Thought.     Which  can  fly  whither  it  will. 

4.    From.     Gildon  has  "To."      Where  —  to  where. 

6.  Farthest  earth  remoi'd.  That  is,  earth  farthest  removed.  For 
the  transposition,  cf.  1 1 1.  2  below. 

9.  Thought  kills  me.  Here  thought  probably  =  "  melancholy 
contemplation."     ('{.  A.  and  C.  iv.  6.  35,  etc. 

II.  So  much  of  earth  and  water  wrought.  That  is,  so  much  of 
these  baser  elements  being  wrought  into  my  nature.  The  allusion 
is  to  the  obi  idea  of  the  four  elements  entering  into  the  composition 
of  man.  Cf.  T.  X.  ii.  3.  10:  "  Does  not  our  life  consist  of  the  four 
elements?"  and  Hen.  V.  iii.  7.  22  :    "He  is  pure  air  and  fire,  and  the 


174  Notes 


dull  elements  of  earth  and  water  never  appear  in  him,"  etc.     See 
also  A.  and  C.  v.  2.  292.     Walker  quotes  Chapman,  Iliad,  vii. :  — 
"  But  ye  are  earth  and  water  all,  which  —  symboliz'd  [that  is,  collected] 
in  one  — 
Have  fram'd  your  faint  unfiery  spirits." 
12.    Attend  time's  leisure.     Await  the  lapse  of  time. 
14.   Heavy  tears.     Heavy  because  due  to  these  elements  of  earth 
and  water. 

XLV 

This  sonnet  and  the  next  continue  the  reference  to  the  elements. 
4.    Present-absent.     The  hyphen  was  inserted  by  Malone. 

8.  Sinks  down.  This  would  be  an  ordinary  "  female  "  line,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  rhyme  with  thee,  which  requires  melancholy  to  be 
pronounced  melanch'ly. 

9.  Recur 'd.  Restored  to  health.  Cf.  V.  and  A.  465  :  "A  smile 
recures  the  wounding  of  a  frown."     See  also  Rich.  III.  iii.  7.  130. 

12.    Thy.     Again  "their"  in  the  quarto  ;  corrected  by  Malone. 

XLVI 

3.  Thy.  The  quarto  has  "their,"  as  in  8,  13,  and  14  below  ; 
corrected  by  Malone.  Tyler  understands  the  picture  to  be  a  real 
portrait  of  his  friend,  but  this  does  not  seem  to  me  certain.  Cf. 
Sonn.  24.  The  contest  of  eye  and  heart  may  be  concerning  the 
imaginary  picture  of  his  person  and  the  image  of  him  in  the  heart. 

9.  'Cide.  The  quarto  has  "side  ;  "  corrected  by  Sewell  (2d  ed.), 
Wyndham  makes  "  side"  =  "adjudge  this  title  to  one  or  the  other 
side." 

10.  Quest.     Inquest,  or  jury  ;    as  in  Rich.  III.  i.  4.  189:  — 

"  What  lawful  quest  have  given  their  verdict  up 
Unto  the  frowning  judge  ?  " 

12.  Moiety.  Share,  portion  ;  not  necessarily  an  exact  half.  C£ 
M.  of  V.  iv.  1.  26,  Ham.  i.  1.  90,  etc. 

13.  Mine  eye's  due,  etc.     Cf.  Sonn.  24.  13,  14. 


Notes  175 


XLVII 

Continues  the  subject  of  eye  and  heart. 

I.  Took.     S.  has  both  took  and  taken  (or  td1  en)  for  the  participle. 
3.    Famished for  a  look.     Cf.  75.  10  below.     Malone  quotes  C.  of 

E.  ii.  1.  88  :   "  Whilst  I  at  home  starve  for  a  merry  look." 

9.  Thy  picture  or.     Lintott  has  "the  picture  or,"  and  Gildon 
"  the  picture  of." 

10.  Art.     The  quarto  has  "are  ;  "  corrected  by  Malone. 

II.  Not.     The  quarto  has  "nor  ;  "   corrected  in  the  ed.  of  1640. 
With   Sonn.  46,  47,  Dowden   compares  Sunnets   19,  20  of  Wat- 
son's Tears  of  Fancie,  1593  (ed.  Arber,  p.  188)  :  — 

"  My  hart  impos'd  this  penance  on  mine  eies, 
(Eies  the  first  causers  of  my  harts  lamenting)  : 
That  (hey  should  weepe  till  lone  and  fancie  dies, 
Fond  lone  the  last  cause  of  my  harts  repenting. 
Mine  eies  vpon  my  hart  inflict  this  paine 
(Bold  hart  that  dard  to  harbour  thoughts  of  loue) 
That  it  should  loue  and  purchase  fell  disdaine, 
A  grieuous  penance  which  my  heart  doth  proue, 
Mine  eies  did  weep  as  hart  had  them  imposed, 
My  hart  did  pine  as  eies  had  it  constrained,"  etc. 

Sonnet  20  continues  the  same  :  — 

"  My  hart  accus'd  mine  eies  and  was  offended, 


Hart  said  that  loue  did  enter  at  the  eies, 

And  from  the  eies  descended  to  the  hart ; 

Eies  said  that  in  the  hart  did  sparkes  arise,"  etc. 

Cf.  also  Diana  (ed.  1584),  Sixth    Decade,  Sonnet   7  (Arber's  Eng- 
lish Garner ;  and  Drayton,  Idea,  33). 

XLVII  I 
Written  during  a  journey. 

4.    Hands  of  falsehood.      Hands  of  the  false  or  fraudulent. 
6.    Aly  greatest  grief.      Because  u(  his  fear  of  theft. 


176  Notes 

7.    Best  of  dearest.     An  emphasized  superlative. 

11.  Gentle  closure  of  my  breast.  Cf.  V.  and  A.  781  :  "Into  the 
quiet  closure  of  my  breast." 

14.  Dowden  asks  :  "  Does  not  this  refer  to  the  woman  who  has 
sworn  love  (152.  2),  and  whose  truth  to  S.  (spoken  of  in  41.  13) 
now  proves  thievish  ?  "  The  meaning  here,  however,  may  simply 
be  that  so  rich  a  prize  may  tempt  even  true  men  to  become  thieves. 
Capell  compares  V.  and  A.  724  :  "  Rich  preys  make  true  men 
thieves."  The  antithesis  of  true  men  and  thieves  occurs  often  in  S. 
and  other  writers  of  the  time. 

XLIX 

"Notice  the  construction  of  the  sonnet,  each  of  the  quatrains 
beginning  with  the  same  words,  'Against  that  time  ; '  so  also  64, 
three  quatrains  beginning  with  the  words  '  When  1  have  seen.'  So 
Daniel's  sonnet  beginning  '  If  this  be  love,'  repeated  in  the  first 
line  of  each  quatrain  "  (Dowden).  Cf.  also  a  sonnet  by  Barnabe 
Barnes  quoted  in  Appendix. 

3.  Whenas.    When;   as  in  C.  of  E.  iv.  4.  140,  V.  and  A.  999,  etc. 

4.  Advis'd  respects.  Deliberate  considerations  ;  as  in  K.John, 
iv.  2.  214  :  "  More  upon  humour  than  advis'd  respects." 

7.  Converted.     Changed.     Steevens  compares  J.  C.  iv.  2.  20:  — 

"  When  love  begins  to  sicken  and  decay, 
It  useth  an  enforced  ceremony." 

8.  Reasons.     That  is,  for  the  change  it  has  undergone. 

10.    Desert.     Rhyming  with  part,  and  spelled  "  desart "  in  the 
quarto.     See  on  14.  12  and  17.  2  above.     Cf.  72.  6  below. 
13.    The  strength  of  laws.     Absolute  legal  right. 


This  sonnet  and  the  next  appear  to  refer  to  the  journey  alluded 
to  in  Sonn.  48.  Fleay  thinks  that  the  journey  (like  the  absence 
and  travel  in  other  Sonnets)  is  purely  figurative,  referring  to  s  the 


Notes  177 

separation  between  Southampton  and  Shakespeare,  caused  by  the 
metaphorical  unfaithfulness  of  the  latter  in  producing  not  poems 
dedicated  to  him,  but  only  dramas  destined  for  the  multitude." 
The  horse  or  beast  ridden  by  S.  is  Pegasus ! 

3.  That  ease  and  that  repose.  Which  he  will  find  at  the  end  of 
the  weary  journey. 

6.  Dully.     The  quarto  has  "  duly;  "  corrected  in  the  ed.  of  1640. 

7.  Instinct.     Accented  on  the  last  syllable,  as  regularly  in  S. 

LI 

4.  Posting.     Rapid  travelling,  with  frequent  change  of  horses. 

6.  Swift  extremity.     The  extreme  of  swiftness. 

7.  Mounted  on  the  wind.     Cf.  A.  Y.  L.  iii.  2.  95  and  Cymb.  iii. 

4-  37- 

8.  Fn  winged  speed.     Even  if  I  had  wings,  or  could  fly  like  a  bird. 
10-12.     Therefore  Desire,  etc.     "  He  will  dispense  with  his  horse, 

and  run  or  fly  back,  riding  on  no  dull  flesh,  but  borne  on  the  wings 
of  Desire"  (Tyler). 

Perfect' st.  The  quarto  has  "  perfects,"  and  Gildon  "  perfect." 
Perfecfst  is  due  to  Dyce.  For  the  superlative,  cf.  Much  Ado,  ii. 
1.  317  :   "  Silence  is  the  perfectest  herald  of  joy." 

Shall  neigh  —  no  dull  flesh,  etc.  The  quarto  reads  "shall  nai^h 
noe  dull  flesh,"  etc.  Malone  was  the  first  to  make  no  dull  flesh 
parenthetical.  Dowden  thinks  the  meaning  may  be,  "  Desire, 
which  is  all  love,  shall  neigh,  there  being  no  dull  flesh  to  cumber 
him  as  he  rushes  forward  in  his  fiery  race."  Massey  makes  flesh 
the  object  of  neigh  (=  neigh  to). 

13.  Wilful-slow.     The  hyphen  is  due  to  Malone. 

14.  Go.  The  word  here,  as  most  of  the  critics  agree,  seems  to 
have  the  specific  sense  of  walking  as  opposed  to  running.  Cf. 
Temp.  iii.  2.  22  :  — ■ 

"  Stephano.     We  '11  not  run,  Monsieur  monster. 
Trinculo.      Nor  go  neither  ;  " 

SHAKHSl'LAKK'S    sonnets —  12 


i78 


Notes 


and  T.  G.  ofV.  iii.  I.  388  :  "Thou  must  run  to  him,  for  thou  hast 
stayed  so  long  that  going  will  scarce  serve  thy  turn."  Schmidt  de- 
fines go  in  these  two  passages  as  =  "  walk  leisurely,  not  to  run  ;  " 
but  the  instance  in  the  text  he  puts  under  the  head  of  go  —  "  make 
haste."  Tyler  makes  give  him  leave  to  go  —  "  dismiss  him,  or  let 
him  go  at  his  pleasure." 

LI  I 

This  sonnet  expresses  his  delight  at  returning  to  his  friend. 

I.  Key.  Pronounced  hay  in  the  time  of  S.  Note  the  rhyme 
with  survey. 

4.  For  blunting.  For  fear  of  blunting.  Cf.  T.  G.  of  V.  i.  2. 
136  :  "Yet  here  they  shall  not  lie,  for  catching  cold;"  and 
2  Hen.  VI.  iv.   1 .   74 :  — 

"  Now  will  I  dam  up  this  thy  yawning  mouth, 
For  swallowing  the  treasure  of  the  realm." 

5.  Therefore  are  feasts,  etc.     Cf.  1  lien.  IV.  i.  2.  229  :  — 

"  If  all  the  year  were  playing  holidays, 
To  sport  would  be  as  tedious  as  to  work ; 
But  when  they  seldom  come  they  wish'd  for  come, 
And  nothing  pleaseth  but  rare  accidents  ;  " 

and  Id.  iii.  2.  57  :  — 

"  and  so  my  state, 
Seldom  but  sumptuous,  showed  like  a  feast, 
And  won  by  rareness  such  solemnity." 

8.  Captain.  Chief.  For  the  adjective  use,  cf.  66.  12  below. 
For  carcanet  —  necklace,  see  C.  of  E.  iii.  I.  4,  the  only  other  instance 
of  the  word  in  S. 

II.  Special.     Used  adverbially,  as  adjectives  often  are  in  S. 

LIII 

His  friend's  shadow,  or  image,  is  to  be  seen  in  every  beautiful 
person  or  thing  ;  but  his  constant  heart — his  faithful  affection  — 
has  »o  parallel  or  counterpart. 


Notes  179 

2.   Strange.     Stranger,  not  your  own. 

4.  "  You,  although  but  one  person,  can  give  off  all  manner  of 
shadowy  images.  Shakspere  then,  to  illustrate  this,  chooses  the 
most  beautiful  of  men,  Adonis,  and  the  most  beautiful  of  women, 
Helen  ;  both  are  but  shadows  or  counterfeits  (or  pictures,  as  in 
Sonn.  16)  of  the  'master-mistress'  of  his  passion  "  (Dowden). 

5.  Counterfeit.  Portrait;  as  in  16.  8  above,  T.  of  A.  v.  I.  83, 
etc.  On  the  rhyme  with  set,  Walker  remarks  that  -feit  was  pro- 
nounced nearly  as  fate  ;  and  so  of  ei  generally.  He  quotes  Ford, 
Perkin     IVarbeck,  iii.   2,  where    Katherine,  referring  to  the  word 

counterfeit,  says :  — 

"  Pray  do  not  use 
That  word;   it  carries  fate  in  't." 
In  C.  of  E.  iv.  2.  63  straight  rhymes  with  conceit ;  and  in  L.  L.  L. 
v.  2.  399,  conceit  with  wait.     Many  similar  examples  might  be  cited. 

7.  Helen's  cheek.  Cf.  A.  Y.  L.  iii.  2.  153:  "  Helen's  cheek,  but 
not  her  heart." 

8.  Tires.     Head-dresses.     Cf.   T.  G.  of  V.  iv.  4.  190: — ■ 

"  If  I  had  such  a  tire,  this  face  of  mine 
Were  full  as  lovely  as  is  this  of  hers,"  etc. 

In  the  present  passage,  the  word  may  possibly  be  a  contraction  of 
attires. 

9.  Foison.  Plenty,  harvest  (here  =  autumn).  Cf.  Temp.  ii.  1. 
163,  iv.  I.  1 10.  Afacb.  iv.  3.  88,  etc.  On  the  passage,  Malone  com- 
pares A.  and  C.  v.  2.  86 :  — 

"  For  his  bounty, 
There  was  no  winter  in   t  ;  an  autumn  't  was 
That  grew  the  more  by  reaping." 

LIV 

This  sonnet  continues  the  subject  of  53,  taking  up  the  sentiment 
of  the  last  line.  Peauty  is  enhanced  by  truth,  or  the  beauty  of 
character  ;  as  the  rose  by  its  fragrance,  which,  distilled,  is  more 
enduring  than  its  beauty. 


180  Notes 

5.  Canker-blooms.  Dog-roses.  Cf.  Much  Ado,  i.  3.  28 :  "I  had 
rather  be  a  canker  in  a  hedge  than  a  rose  in  his  grace  ;  "  and 
1  Hen.  IV.  i.  3.  76:  — 

"  To  put  down  Richard,  that  sweet  lovely  rose, 
And  plant  this  thorn,  this  canker,  Bolingbroke." 

Steevens  says  that  the  dog-rose  is  paler  than  the  cultivated  rose, 
and  has  some  odour  ;  and  therefore  the  text  is  inconsistent.  But 
the  perfume  of  the  dog-rose  would  never  be  distilled ;  and  that  is 
the  point  of  the  poet's  comparison. 

6.  The  perfumed  tincture.    The  combined  colour  and  fragrance. 

8.  Discloses.     Uncloses,  unfolds.     Cf.  Ham.  i.  3.  40  :  — 

"  The  canker  galls  the  infants  of  the  spring 
Too  oft  before  their  buttons  be  disclos'd." 

9.  For.  Because  ;  as  in  106.  1 1  below.  See  also  on  40.  6 
above. 

10.  Unrespected.     Unregarded.     Cf.  43.  2  above. 

12.  S-cveetest  odours.  For  the  allusion  to  distillation  of  perfumes, 
see  on  5.  9  above. 

14.  Fade.  Fade.  The  quarto  has  "by  verse;"  corrected  by 
Malone.  That  refers  to  the  abstract  youth  implied  in  the  concrete 
youth.  Fade  occurs  also  in  Rich.  II.  i.  2.  20  (folio  text),  and  in 
P.P.  131,  132,  170,  174,  176. 

LV 

This  sonnet,  like  54,  seems  to  take  up  the  closing  line  of  the 
preceding  one. 

Mr.  Tyler  {Athena:um,  Sept.  II,  1880)  ingeniously  argues  that 
the  thought  and  phrasing  of  lines  in  this  sonnet  are  derived  from 
a  passage  in  Meres's  Palladis  Tatnia,  1598,  where  Shakespeare 
among  others  is  mentioned  with   honour :  — 

"  As  Ovid  saith  of  his  worke  ; 

lamque  opus  excgi,  quod  nee  Jovis  ira,  nee  ignis. 
Nee  potent  ferrum ,  nee  edax  abolere  vetustas  ; 


Notes 


I8l 


And  as  Horace  saith  of  his : 


Exegi  monumentum  aerc  perennius, 
Regalique  situ  pyramidum  altius  ; 
Quod  non  imber  edax,  non  Aquilo  impotens 
Possit  diruere,  aut  innumerabilis 
Annorum  series  et  fuga  temporum  : 

So  say  I  seuerally  of  Sir  Philip  Sidneys,  Spencers,  Daniels,  Dray- 
tons,  Shakespeare*,  and  Warners  vvorkes  ; 

Nee  Jcrvis  ira,  imbrcs,  Mars,  ferrum ,  fiamma,  senectus. 
Hoc  opus  unda,  lues,  turbo,  venena  ruent. 

Et  quanquam  ad  pulcherrimum  hoc  opus  euertendum  tres  ill i  Di 
conspirabunt,  Chronus,  Vulcanus,  et  Pater  ipse  gentis:  — 

Nee  tamen  annorum  series,  non  fiamma,  nee  ensis, 
Aeternum  potiut  hoe  abolere  deeus." 

I.  Monuments.  The  quarto  has  "monument;"  corrected  by 
Malone. 

3.     These  contents.     What  is  contained  in  these  verses  of  mine. 

7.  Mars  his  sword.  Cf.  T.  and  C.  ii.  1.  58:  "Mars  his  idiot," 
etc. 

9.  All-oblivious.  Causing  to  be  forgotten.  Cf.  oblivious  in  Macb. 
v.  3.  43  ;    the  only  other  instance  of  the  word  in  S. 

10.  Pace  for tli.     Still  go  on,  or  endure. 

13.  !  ill  the  judgment,  etc.  Till  the  judgment  day  shall  bid  you 
rise  from  the  dead.  Hudson  has  this  strange  note:  "Arise  is  here 
used  transitively,  and  is  put  in  the  plural  fur  the  rhyme,  though  its 
subject  is  in  the  singular:  'Till  the  judgment  day  that  raises  your- 
self from  the  dead,'  is  the  meaning."  This  is  the  sense,  but  not 
the  syntax. 

LVI 

"This,  like  the  sonnets  immediately  preceding,  is  written  in 
absence.  The  love  S.  addresses  ('Sweet  love,  renew  thy  force')  is 
the  love  in  his  own  breast.      Is  the  sight  of  his  iriend,  of  which  he 


1 82  Notes 

speaks,  only  the  imaginative  seeing  of  love ;  such  fancied  sight  as 
two  betrothed  persons  may  have  although  severed  by  the  ocean  ?  " 
(Dowden.) 

6.  Wink.  Close  in  sleep,  as  after  a  full  meal.  See  on  43.  1 
above. 

8.  Dullness.  Apparently  =  drowsiness,  as  in  Temp.  i.  2.  185  : 
"  'T  is  a  good  dullness." 

13.  Else.  The  quarto  has  "As;  "  corrected  by  Palgrave.  Ma- 
lone  and  Tyler  read  "  Or." 

LVII 

"The  absence  spoken  of  in  this  sonnet  seems  to  be  voluntary 
absence  on  the  part  of  Shakspere's  friend"  (Dowden). 

5.  World-without- end  hour.  The  time  that  seems  as  if  it  would 
never  end.    Cf.  L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  799:   "a  world-without-end  bargain." 

12.  Where  you  are,  etc.  How  happy  you  make  those  where 
you  are. 

13.  Will.  The  quarto  has  "Will"  (not  in  italics).  As  Tyler 
remarks,  "  there  is  a  bare  possibility  of  a  pun."    Cf.  Sonn.  135,  136. 


LVIII 

This  sonnet  is  a  continuation  of  57  ;  expressing  a  "growing  dis- 
trust in  his  friend,  with  a  determination  to  resist  such  a  feeling" 
(Dowden). 

3.  To  crave.  The  to  of  the  infinitive  is  sometimes  expressed  in 
a  clause  following  one  with  should,  zvould,  etc.  Cf.  Temp.  iii.  1.62, 
T.  of  A.  iv.  2.  Ty^,  etc. 

6.  The  imprisoned  abseyice  of  your  liberty.  The  separation  from 
you,  which  to  me  is  imprisonment,  while  you  are  at  liberty. 

7.  Tame  to  sufferayue.  Bearing  the  suffering  submissively.  Ma- 
lone  compares  Lear,  iv.  6.  22c:  ''made  tame  to  fortune's  blows." 
Bide  each  check  —  endure  each  rebuke  or  rebuff. 


Notes  1 83 

10.  Your  time  To  what,  etc.  Devoting  your  time,  as  is  your 
privilege,  to  what  you  will. 

13.    Though  waiting  so  be  hell.     Cf.  p.  120.  6  and  R.  of  L.  1287. 

LIX 

Here,  as  Tyler  notes,  there  is  "  pretty  clearly  a  break  of  conti- 
nuity." 

5.  Record.  History  ;  accented  by  S.  on  either  syllable,  as  suits 
the  measure.     Cf.  122.  8  below. 

6.  Courses.     Yearly  courses,  not  daily.     Cf.  Hen.  VIII.  ii.  3.  6: 

"  After 
So  many  courses  of  the  sun  enthron'd  ;  " 

T.  and  C.  iv.  1.  27:    "A  thousand  complete  courses  of  the  sun," 
etc. 

7.  Antique.     For  the  accent,  see  on  19.  10  above. 

8.  Since  mind,  etc.  Since  thought  was  first  expressed  in 
writing. 

10.  Composed  wonder.  Wonderful  composition.  For  many  simi- 
lar inversions,  see  Schmidt,  p.  141 7. 

11.  Or  whether.  The  quarto  has  "or  where,"  and  some  modern 
eds.  print  "  whe'r  "  or  "  wher."  Whether  is  not  unfrequently  mono- 
syllabic. 

12.  Or  whether  revolution,  etc.  Whether  the  revolution  of  time 
brings  about  the  same  things. 

LX 

"The  thought  of  revolution,  the  revolving  ages  (59.  12),  sets  the 
poet  thinking  of  changes  wrought  by  time"  (Dowden). 

1.  Like  us.  Cf.  118.  1  below.  See  also  '/'.  and  C.  i.  2.  7,  Ham. 
1.  2.  217,  etc. 

5.  Nativity,  etc.  The  child  once  brought  into  this  world  of 
light.     "  As  the  main  of  waters  would  signify  the  great  body  of 


f  84  Notes 

waters,  so  the  main  of  light  signifies  the  mass  or  flood  of  light  into 
which  a  new-born  child  is  launched"  (Knight).  Perhaps,  as 
Dowden  suggests,  the  image  in  main  of  light  is  suggested  by  line  I, 
where  our  minutes  are  compared  to  waves. 

7.  Crooked.  Malignant.  Cf.  T.  G.  of  V.  iv.  1 .  22 :  "If  crooked 
fortune  had  not  thwarted  me,"  etc.  For  the  allusion  to  the  sup- 
posed evil  influence  of  eclipses,  cf.  107.  5  below.  See  also  Macb. 
iv.  1.  28,  Ham.  i.  1.  120,  Lear,  i.  2.  112,  Oth.  v.  2.  99,  etc. 

8.  Confound.  Destroy;  as  often.  See  on  5.  6  above  and  63. 
10  below. 

9.  Flourish.  "External  decoration"  (Malone).  Cf.  L.  L.  L. 
ii.  1.  14:  "the  painted  flourish  of  your  praise,"  etc.  Transfix 
(used  by  S.  only  here)  =  remove,  take  away. 

10.  Delves  the  parallels.  Makes  furrows.  For  the  figure,  cf. 
2.  2  above  ;  and  for  a  different  one,  see  19.  9.  Parallels  is  used 
more  mathematically  in    T.  and  C.  i.  3.   168. 

11.  Feeds  on,  etc.  Consumes  whatever  is  rarest,  or  best,  in 
natural  beauty  and  worth. 

13.    Times  in  hope.     Future  times. 

LXI 

This  sonnet  reminds  us  of  27  and  28. 

8.     Tenor.     The  quarto  has  "  tenure  ;  "  corrected  by  Malone. 
II.    Defeat.     Destroy.      Cf.    Oth.   iv.   2.    160:    "His  unkindness 
may  defeat  my  life,"  etc. 

LXII 

With  this  sonnet  compare  22. 

I.    Self-love.     Cf.  3.  8  above. 

5.  Gracious.  Full  of  grace,  beautiful.  Cf.  K.  John,  iii.  4.  81  : 
"  a  gracious  creature  ;  "  /'.  N.  i.  5.  281  :.  "  A  gracious  person," 
etc. 

7.    And  for  myself  etc.     Walker  conjectures  "so  define,"  and 


Notes  185 

Lettsom  "  so  myself."  Dowdenasks:  "  Does  for  myself  mean  'for 
my  own  satisfaction '  ?  "  Perhaps  it  merely  adds  emphasis  to  the 
statement. 

8.    As  I,  etc.     In  such  a  way  that  I,  etc. 

10.  Bated.  The  quarto  has  "  beated,"  which  was  probably  an 
error  of  the  ear  for  bated  (=  beaten  down,  weakened  ;  as  in  M.  of 
V.  iii.  3.  32  :  "These  griefs  and  losses  have  so  bated  me,"  etc.),  beat 
being  then  pronounced  bate.  "  Beated  "  is  explained  by  Tyler  as 
"battered."  S.  has  splitted  in  C.  of  E.  i.  I.  104,  v.  1.  308,  A. and  C. 
v.  1.  24,  etc.,  catched  in  Z.  Z.  Z.  v.  2.  69,  hecomed  in  R.  and  J.  iv. 
2.  26,  Cymb.  v.  5.  406,  etc  Steevens  would  read  "blasted,"  and 
Colliei  "  beaten,"  which  White  adopts. 

For  chopped  (the  quarto  chopt)  Dyce  and  others  read  "  chapp'd," 
which  is  really  the  same  word.  The  form  in  S.  is  always  chopt  or 
chopped. 

13.  'T  is  thee,  myself.     That  is,  thee,  who  art  my  other  self. 

14.  Painting  my  age,  etc.     Cf.  Z.  /..  Z.  iv.  3.  244. 

LXIII 

A  continuation  of  62. 

5.  Strepy  night.  Malone  was  at  first  inclined  to  read  "sleepy 
night,"  but  afterwards  decided  that  steepy  is  explained  by  7.  5,  6 
above.  Dovvden  takes  the  same  view:  "Youth  and  age  are  on  the 
steep  ascent  and  the  steep  decline  of  heaven."  Staunton  says: 
"Chaucer  [C.  7'.  201,  7SS]  has  'even  stepe,'  which  his  editors 
interpret  'eyes  deep.'  We  believe  in  both  cases  the  word  is  a 
synonym  for  black  or  dark."1      Hudson  reads  "sleepy." 

6.  A'ing      Sovereign  possessor.      ('(.    7'.  .V.  i.  I.  39,  etc. 

9.  For  such  a  time.  That  is,  in  anticipation  of  it.  Fortify  = 
fortify  myself,  take  defensive  measures.  Cf.  2  Hen.  II'.  i.  3.  56 : 
'•  We   fortify  in   paper  and   in    figures." 

10.  Confounding.     Destroying.     See  on  60.  8  above. 
13.     Flack  lines.      Cf.  65.   14  above. 


1 86  Notes 


LXIV 

This  sonnet  also  continues  the  thought  of  the  preceding.  Pal- 
grave  remarks  that  the  three  sonnets  64-66  "  form  one  poem  of 
marvellous  power,  insight,  and  beauty." 

2.  Rich  proud.  Hyphened  by  Malone,  like  down-ras'd  below. 
Cost  =  that  on  which  money  is  spent.     Cf.  2  Hen.  IV.  i.  3.  60. 

4.  Mortal.     Deadly,  fatal;   as  in  46.  I,  etc. 

5.  When  I  have  seen  the  hungry  ocean,  etc.  Some  critics  have 
expressed  surprise  that  S.  should  know  anything  of  these  gradual 
encroachments  of  the  sea  on  the  land ;  but  they  had  become 
familiar  on  the  east  coast  of  England  before  his  day,  as  at  Ravens- 
purg  {Rich.  II.  ii.  1.  296,  etc.).      Cf.  2  Hen.  IV.  iii.  1.  45  :  — 

"  O  God !  that  one  might  read  the  book  of  fate, 
And  see  the  revolution  of  the  times 
Make  mountains  level,  and  the  continent, 
Weary  of  solid  firmness,  melt  itself 
Into  the  sea!  and,  other  times,  to  see 
The  beachy  girdle  of  the  ocean 
Too  wide  for  Neptune's  hips,"  etc. 
See  also  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam,  cxxiii. 

13.  This  thought,  etc.  This  thought,  which  cannot  choose  but 
weep  ...  is  as  a  death. 

14.  To  have.  At  having  ;  the  "  indefinite  "  infinitive,  which  is 
very  common  in  S. 

LXV 
A  sequel  to  64. 

3.  This  rage.  Malone  conjectured  "  his  rage."  Rage  =  de- 
structive power.      Cf.  13.  12  and  64.  4. 

4.  Action.  Energy,  vigour.  Dowden  thinks  it  is  used  in  a 
legal  sense,   suggested  by  hold  a  plea. 

5.  Summer's.     The  summer  of  life. 

6.  Wrackful.  The  quarto  has  "  wrackfull  ;  "  the  only  instance 
of  the  word  in  S.     Cf.  wrack-threatening  in  R.  of  I.  590.      Wrack 


Notes  187 


is  the  only  spelling  in  the  early  eds.     Note  the  rhyme  in  126.  5 
below. 

10.  Chest.  Theobald  conjectured  "quest;"  but,  as  Malone 
shows,  the  figure  is  a  favourite  one  with  S.  Cf.  48.  9  above  ;  and 
see  also  K.  John,  v.  1.  40,  Rich.  II.  i.  1.  180,  etc.  Time's  chest  = 
the  oblivion  to  which  he  consigns  our  precious  things.  Cf.  52.  9 
above. 

12.  Of  beauty.  The  quarto  has  "or"  for  of  and  Gildon  reads 
"  on." 

LXVI 

"  The  tone  of  melancholy  now  attains  a  greater  intensity,  and  we 
have  a  pessimism  which  has  been  compared  to  that  of  Hamlet.  .  .  . 
The  poet  cries  out  for  death,  though  unwilling  to  leave  his  friend  " 
(Tyler). 

1.  All  these.     The  evils  enumerated  below. 

2.  Born.     Staunton  conjectures  "  lorn,"  and  "  empty"  for  needy. 

8.  Disabled.  A  quadrisyllable.  Cf.  assembly  in  Cor.  i.  I.  159, 
nobler  (trisyllable)  in  Id.  iii.  2.  66,  etc. 

9.  Art  made  tongue-tied,  etc.  "  Art  is  commonly  used  by  S.  for 
letters,  learning,  science.  Can  this  line  refer  to  the  censorship  of 
the  stage  ?"  (Dowden).  It  may  be  censorship  in  a  general  sense; 
or  legal  authority  used  to  suppress  freedom  of  speech. 

11.  Simplicity.  Folly;  as  in  /,.  L.  L.  iv.  2.  23,  iv.  3.  54,  v.  2.52, 
78,  etc. 

12.  And  captive  good,  etc.  "  This  is  a  climax.  Evil  is  a  victori- 
ous captain,  with  good  as  a  captive  attending  to  grace  his  triumph  " 
(Tyler). 

LXVI  I 

The  world  being  such  as  represented  in  the  preceding  sonnet, 
the  excellencies  of  the  poet's  friend  are  out  of  place.  He  is 
Nature's  memorial  of  a  golden  age  long  passed  away  (Tyler). 
This  thought   is  developed  in  the  next  sonnet. 


1 88  Notes 

4.  Lace.  Embellish.  Cf.  Much  Ado,  iii.  4.  20 :  "  laced  with 
silver,"  etc. 

6.  Dead  seeing.  Lifeless  semblance.  Capell  and  Farmer  con- 
jecture "seeming." 

8.  Roses  of  shadow.  Imaginary  roses,  the  mere  shadozu,  or  im- 
age, of  the  reality. 

9.  Bankrupt.  Spelled  "  banckrout  "  in  the  quarto,  as  often,  or 
similarly  ("bankrout,"  etc.),  elsewhere. 

12.  Proud  of  many,  etc.  "Nature,  while  she  boasts  of  many 
beautiful  persons,  really  has  no  treasure  of  beauty  except  his " 
(Dowden). 

13.  Stores.     See  on  11.  9  above. 

LXVIII 

1.  Map  of  days  outworn.  Malone  compares  R.  of  L.  1350: 
"  this  pattern  of  the  worn-out  age."  For  map  =  picture,  image, 
cf.  R.  of  L.  402  :  "  the  map  of  death  ;  "  Rich.  II.  v.  1.  12  :  "Thou 
map  of  honour,"  etc. 

3.  Fair.  See  on  16.  11  above.  Bastard  =  illegitimate,  as  not 
derived  from  Nature. 

5,  6.  For  Shakespeare's  antipathy  to  false  hair,  see  note  on  20.  1 
above.     He  likes  to  represent  the  hair  as  taken  from  the  dead. 

10.  Without  all.  That  is,  without  any;  as  in  74.  2  below.  For 
itself  Malone  conjectures'*  himself."     It  seems  to  be  =  its  real  self. 

LXIX 

His  friend's  beauty  is  generally  admitted,  but  it  is  alleged  that 
his  moral  character  is  not  in  keeping  with  it. 

3.  Due.  The  quarto  has  "  end  ;  "  corrected  by  Malone  (the 
conjecture  of  Capell  and  Tyrwhitt). 

5.  Thy.  The  quarto  has  "Their;  "  corrected  by  Malone,  who 
later  substituted  "Thine." 

7.  Confound.     Destroy.     See  on  5.  6  above. 


Notes  189 


14.  Soil.  The  quarto  has  " solye,"  and  the  ed.  of  1640  "soyle." 
Gildon  has  "toil."  Malone  (followed  by  Dyce,  White,  and  Hud- 
son) reads  "solve"  (=  solution).  The  Cambridge  editors  and 
Dowden  give  "  soil,"  and  the  former  say :  "  As  the  verb  to  soil  is 
not  uncommon  in  Old  English,  meaning  to  solve  (as,  for  example, 
in  Udal's  Erasmus :  '  This  question  could  not  one  of  them  all 
soile  '),  so  the  substantive  soil  may  be  used  in  the  sense  of  solution. 
The  play  upon  words  thus  suggested  is  in  the  author's  manner." 
Thou  dost  common  grow ;  that  is,  you  get  into  bad  company. 

LXX 

For  this  sonnet,  see  p.  25  above. 

1.  Art.     The  quarto  has  "are  ;  "  corrected  in  the  ed.  of  1640. 

2.  Slanders  mark,  etc.  C'f.  M.  for  M.  iii.  2.  197  and  Ham.  iii. 
I.    140. 

3.  Suspect.  Suspicion.  For  the  noun,  which  S.  uses  some  dozen 
times,  cf.  Rich.  III.  i.  3.  89,  iii.  5.  32,  etc. 

6.  Thy.  Again  the  quarto  has  '"Their."  The  frequency  of  this 
mistake  was  apparently  due  to  confusing  the  abbreviations  of  the 
words. 

Being  woo'd  of  time.  "  IScing  solicited  or  tempted  by  the  present 
times"  (Dowden).  Tyler  connects  it  with  slander,  and  explains 
the  passage  thus:  "Slander  coming  under  the  soothing  influence 
of  time  will  show  thy  worth  to  Ix;  greater,"  or  "slander  will  turn 
to  praise  in  course  of  time,  and  your  true  character  will  shine  forth." 
This  seems,  on  the  whole,  more  plausible,  but  neither  explanation 
is  convincing.  Verity  explains  it  as  =  "  tempted  by  thy  youth  ;  " 
comparing  line  9  and  Sonn.  12.  3,  4.  Steevens  quotes  Jonson, 
Every  Man  Out  of  Ins  Humour,  prol. :  "Oh,  how  I  hate  the  mon- 
strousness  of  time"  (that  is,  the  times).  Staunton  conjectures 
"  crime  "   for  time. 

7.  Canker.  The  canker-worm  ;  as  in  35.  4  above,  and  95.  2, 
99.  12  below.     Cf.  T.  G.  of  ]'.  i.  1.  45,  Af.  JV.  D.  ii.  2.  3,  etc. 


1 90  Notes 


10.    Charged.     Attacked  ;   repeating  assail'd. 

12.  To  tie  up.  As  to  tie  up,  that  is,  silence.  Cf.  M.  N.  D.  iii. 
1.  206:  "Tie  up  my  love's  tongue,  bring  him  silently."  See  also 
R.  and  J.  iv.  5.  32  and  M.  for  M.  iii.  2.  199.  Enlarg'd  =  set  at 
large,  given  free  scope.  Hales  writes  to  Dowden  on  this  passage : 
"  Surely  a  reference  here  to  the  Faerie  Queene,  end  of  book  vi. 
Calidore  ties  up  the  Blatant  Beast ;  after  a  time  he  breaks  his  iron 
chain,  '  and  got  into  the  world  at  liberty  again,'  that  is,  is  evermore 
enlarged."     It  seems  to  me  doubtful  whether  S.  had  this  in  mind. 

14.    Owe.     Own,  possess.     Cf.  18.  10  above. 

LXXI 

As  Tyler  remarks,  "the  melancholy  train  of  thought,  interrupted 
by  the  last  two  sonnets,  reappears"  —  which  tends  to  confirm  the 
supposition  that  69  and  70  are  out  of  place. 

2.    The  surly  sullen  bell.     Cf.  2  Hen.  IV.  i.  I.  102  :  — 
"  as  a  sullen  bell 
Remember'd  knolling  a  departed  friend ;  " 
R.  and  J.  iv.  5.  88:   "sullen  dirges;  "  and  Milton,  //  Pens.  76: 
"  Swinging  slow  with  sullen  roar  "  (the  curfew  bell). 

4.  Vilest.  The  quarto  has  "  vildest."  Vild  is  an  old  form  of 
vile,  found  often  in  the  early  eds. 

10.  Compounded am  with  clay.  Cf.  2  Hen.  IV.  iv.  5.  116:  "  Only 
compound  me  with  forgotten  dust."     See  also  Ham.  iv.  1.  236. 

LXXII 
A  continuation  of  71. 

4.  Prove.  Find  ;  as  in  R.  of  L.  613:  "When  they  in  thee  the 
like  offences  prove,"  etc.     See  also  153.  7  below. 

5.  Virtuous  lit.  Cf.  Horace's  "  splendide  mendax."  Verity 
quotes  Webster,  Duchess  of  Malfi,  iii.   2  :  — 

"  Of  such  a  feigned  crime  as  Tasso  calls 
Magnanima  mensogna,  a  noble  lie." 


Notes  191 

6.  Desert.     For  the  rhyme,  cf.  14.  12,  17.  2,  and  49.  10  above. 

7.  /.  Cf.  AT.  of  V.  iii.  2.  321:  "between  you  and  I."  The 
inflections  of  pronouns  are  often  disregarded  in  S. 

8.  Niggard  truth.     Strict  truth. 
IO.    Untrue.     Used  adverbially. 

14.    So  should  you.     That  is,  be  shamed.     To  love  =  for  loving. 

LXXIII 

The  thought  of  death  (in  71,  72)  suggests  his  declining  age. 
2.     Yellow  leaves.     Cf.  Macb.  v.  3.  23  :  — 

"  my  way  of  life 
Is  fallen  into  the  sere,  the  yellow  leaf." 

4.  Ruin 'd  choirs.  The  quarto  has  "  rn'wd  quiers  ;  "  corrected 
in  the  ed.  of  1640.  Steevens  remarks:  "The  image  was  probably 
suggested  by  our  desolated  monasteries.  The  resemblance  between 
the  vaulting  of  a  Gothic  aisle  and  an  avenue  of  trees  whose  upper 
branches  meet  and  form  an  arch  overhead,  is  too  striking  not  to 
be  acknowledged.  When  the  roof  of  the  one  is  shattered,  and  the 
boughs  of  the  other  leafless,  the  comparison  becomes  yet  more 
solemn  and  picturesque." 

8.  Death's  second  self.  Cf.  Cymb.  ii.  2.  31:  "the  ape  of  death," 
etc. 

9.  The  glowing  of  such  fire,  etc.  Malone  remarks  that  Gray 
perhaps  remembered  these  lines  when  he  wrote  "  Even  in  our 
ashes  live  [not   "glow,"  as   Malone  quotes  it]  their  wonted  tires." 

12.  Consum'd,  etc.  "Wasting  away  on  the  dead  ashes  which 
once  nourished  it  with  living  flame  "  (Dowden). 

LXXIV 

Closely  connected  with  73. 

I.     That  fell  arrest.     Capell  quotes  Ham.  v.  2.  347:  — 
"  Had  I  but  time       as  this  fell  sergeant,  death, 
Is  strict  in  his  arrest." 


192  Notes 


2.    Without  all.     See  on  68.  10  above. 

6.  Consecrate.  Cf.  C.  of  E.  ii.  2.  134:  "this  body,  consecrate  to 
thee,"  etc. 

7.  His.     Its  ;    as  in  9.  10  and  14.  6  above. 

11.  The  coward  conquest,  etc.  Dowden  asks:  "  Does  S.  merely 
speak  of  the  liability  of  the  body  to  untimely  or  violent  mischance  ? 
Or  does  he  meditate  suicide  ?  Or  think  of  Marlowe's  death,  and 
anticipate  such  a  fate  as  possibly  his  own  ?  Or  has  he,  like  Mar- 
lowe, been  wounded  ?  Or  does  he  refer  to  dissection  of  dead 
bodies  ?  Or  is  it  '  confounding  age's  cruel  knife  '  of  63.  10?"  If 
not  a  merely  figurative  expression,  like  this  last,  the  key  to  it  is 
probably  in  the  first  question  above :  this  life  which  is  at  the  mercy 
of  any  base  assassin's  knife.  Palgrave  says  that  the  expression 
"must  allude  to  anatomical  dissections,  then  recently  revived  in 
Europe  by  Vesalius,  Fallopius,  Pare,  and  others."  This  seems  to 
me  extremely  improbable. 

13,  14.  The  worth,  etc.  "The  worth  of  that  (my  body)  is  that 
which  it  contains  (my  spirit),  and  that  (my  spirit)  is  this  (my 
poems)  "  (Dowden). 

LXXV 

This  sonnet  and  the  two  that  follow,  as  Tyler  suggests,  seem  to 
form  a  distinct  group,  accompanying  the  present  referred  to  in  77. 

2.  Siveet-season'd.  "  Seasonable  and  refreshing "  (Tyler)  ;  or 
"well  tempered,  soft,  gentle"  (Schmidt).  The  hyphen  is  due  to 
Malone. 

3.  The  peace  of  you.  "The  peace,  content,  to  be  found  in  you  ; 
antithesis  to  strife  "  (Dowden)  ;  or  "  the  peaceable  possession  of 
you"  (Tyler). 

6.  Doubting.  Suspecting,  fearing.  Cf.  M.  W.  i.  4.  42  :  "I  doubt 
he  be  not  well,"  etc. 

10.  Clean.  Quite,  completely  ;  as  often.  On  the  line,  cf.  47.  3 
above. 

11,  12.    Possessing  or  pursuing,  etc.     That  is,  possessing  no  de 


Notes  193 

light  save  what  is  had,  and  pursuing  njne  save  what  must  be  taken 
from  you.  Cf.  27.  13  above.  For  took,  cf.  2  Hen.  IV.\.  1.  131  : 
"  Stumbling  in  fear,  was  took,"  etc.  S.  also  uses  taken  (or  fa' en) 
for  the  participle. 

14.  Or  gluttoning,  etc.  That  is,  either  having  a  surplus  of  food 
or  none  at  all. 

LXXVI 

Possibly  referring  to  criticisms  that  had  been  made  on  his  son- 
nets ;  or  it  may  be  merely  an  apolugy  to  his  friend  for  the  monotony 
of  them.  Tyler,  who  assumes  a  possible  allusion  to  the  "  rival  poet  " 
of  78-80  in  this  sonnet,  thinks  that  in  line  4  there  may  be  a  refer- 
ence to  "  the  novel  compound  words  employed  by  Chapman  to 
express  Homeric  epithets." 

I.    New  pride.     Novel  poetical  forms,  etc. 

6.  In  a  noted  weed.  "  In  a  dress  by  which  it  is  always  known,  as 
those  persons  are  who  always  wear  the  same  colours  "  (Steevens). 
For  -weed,  see  on  2.  4  above  ;  and  for  noted,  cf.  K.John,  iv.  2.  21  : 
"the  antique  and  well  noted  face,"  etc.  For  invention,  see  on 
38.  8  above.  For  a  comical  Baconian  comment  on  this  passage, 
see  Appendix  under  "The  Sonnets  and  the  Baconian  Theory." 

7.  Tell.  The  quarto  has  "  fel,"  and  Lintott  "fell;  "  corrected 
by  Malone.      That  =  so  that  ;    as  in  98.  4  below. 

8.  Where.  Capell  conjectured  "  whence  ;  "  but  cf.  Hen.  V.\\\. 
5.  15,  A.  and  C.  ii.  I.  18,  etc. 

LXXVII 

"'Probably,'  says  Steevens,  'this  sonnet  was  designed  to  accom- 
pany a  present  of  a  book  consisting  of  blank  paper.'  'This  con- 
jecture,' says  Malone,  'appears  to  me  extremely  probable.'  If  I 
might  hazard  a  conjecture,  it  would  be  that  Shakspere,  who  had 
perhaps  begun  a  new  manuscript-book  with  Sonnet  75,  and  who, 
as  I  suppose,  apologized  for  the  monotony  of  his  verses  in  ~(>,  here 
.  ased  to  write,  knowing  that  his  friend  was  favouring  a  rival,  and 
shakesfeare's   sonnets —  13 


1 94  Notes 

invited  his  friend  to  fill  up  the  blank  pages  himself  (see  on  12 
below).  Beauty,  Time,  and  Verse  formed  the  theme  of  many  of 
Shakspere's  sonnets  ;  now  that  he  will  write  no  more,  he  com- 
mends his  friend  to  his  glass,  where  he  may  discover  the  truth 
about  his  beauty;  to  the  dial,  where  he  may  learn  the  progress 
of  time;  and  to  this  book,  which  he  himself — not  Shakspere  — 
must  fill.  C.  A.  Brown  and  Henry  Brown  treat  this  sonnet  as  an 
Envoy"  (Dowden).  That  the  sonnet  refers  to  the  present  of  a 
blank-book  to  his  friend  seems  quite  certain,  but  I  cannot  believe 
that  it  was  partly  filled  with  Shakespeare's  poems.  That  the  dial 
and  mirror  were  also  included  in  the  gift  is  possible  but  not  proba- 
ble—  unless  Thy  in  lines  I  and  2  should  be  "The,"  as  in  3.  The 
meaning  may  simply  be  that,  while  his  friend's  mirror  and  sun-dial 
may  remind  him  that  he  is  growing  old,  his  memory  is  also  liable  to 
fail,  and  thoughts  and  feelings  that  he  would  secure  from  oblivion 
had  better  be  committed  to  writing. 
4.    This  learning.     That  time  flies. 

6.  Mouthed  graves.  "All-devouring  graves"  (Malone).  Cf. 
V.  and  A.  757:   "What  is  thy  body  but  a  swallowing  grave?" 

7.  Shady  stealth.     That  is,  the  stealthy  motion  of  the  shadow. 

8.  Time's  thievish  progress.  Cf.  A.  IV.  ii.  1.  169:  "the  thievish 
minutes,"  etc. 

9.  Contain.     Retain,  as  in  M.  of  V.  v.  1.  201,  etc. 

10.  Blanks.  The  quarto  has  "  blacks  ;  "  corrected  by  Malone 
(the  conjecture  of  Theobald  and  Capell). 

12.  Dowden  remarks :  "Perhaps  this  is  said  with  some  feeling 
of  wounded  love  —  my  verses  have  grown  monotonous  and  weari- 
some ;  write  yourself,  and  you  will  find  novelty  in  your  own  thoughts 
when  once  delivered  from  your  brain  and  set  down  by  your  pen. 
Perhaps,  also,  'this  learning  mayst  thou  taste'  (4)  is  suggested  by 
the  fact  that  S.  is  unlearned  in  comparison  with  the  rival.  I  cannot 
bring  you  learning ;  but  set  down  your  own  thoughts,  and  you  will 
find  learning  in  them."  For  myself,  I  cannot  see  any  allusion  tu 
the  rival  poet  in  this  sonnet. 


Notes  195 


LXXVIII 

Here  we  have  clear  reference  to  a  rival  poet  or  poets. 

3.  As  every  alien  pen,  etc.  That  every  other  poet  has  acquired 
my  habit  of  writing  to  you.  In  the  quarto  alien  is  in  italics  and 
begins  with  a  capital.     See  on  20.  8  above. 

4.  Under  thee.  Under  thy  favour  or  patronage,  or,  perhaps,  the 
hope  of  gaining  it.     Disperse  =  scatter  abroad,  or  publish. 

6.  Heavy  ignorance.  As  Malone  notes,  the  expression  occurs 
again  in  Oth.  ii.  1.  144.  Herford  remarks  that  lines  5,  6  are  "more 
naturally  understood  of  S.  himself  than  of  the  rival  poet." 

7.  The  learned' 's  wing.  Dyce  compares  Spenser,  Teares  of  the 
Muses :  — 

"  Each  idle  wit  at  will  presumes  to  make, 
And  doth  the  learned's  task  upon  him  take." 

Learne~d  favours  the  theory  that  Chapman  was  the  poet. 

9.  Compile.  Compose,  write  ;  the  only  sense  in  S.  Cf.  85.  2 
below  ;    and  see  also  /..  L.  I.,  iv.  3.  134,  v.  2.  52,  896. 

10.  Influence.  Inspiration  ;  as  in  /..  L.  L.  v.  2,  869.  Cf.  15.  4, 
where  it  is  used  in  its  literal  and  astrological  sense. 

12.  Arts.  Learning,  letters.  Cf.  14.  10  and  66.  9  above.  Tyler 
thinks  that  here  "poetical  style"  is  meant. 

13.  Advance.     Raise,  lift  up  ;   as  often. 

LXXIX 

The  subject  of  the  rival  poet  is  directly  continued,  I  think  ;  but 
Dowden  regards  it  as  "  a  continuation  of  Sottn.  76." 

5.  Thy  lovely  argument.  The  argument  or  theme  of  your  love- 
liness.    See  on  38.  3  above. 

6.  Travail.  The  ed.  of  1640  has  "travel."  The  two  forms 
are  used  indiscriminately  in  the  early  eds.  without  regard  to  the 
meaning. 

7.  Thy  poet.     The  rival,  of  course. 


196 


Notes 


13.  Then  thank  him  not,  etc.  Cf.  what  S.  says  of  himself  in  38.  5 
and  elsewhere. 

LXXX 

The  same  subject  is  continued  in  this  and  the  next  sonnet. 

2.  A  better  spirit.  For  the  conjectures  as  to  this  better  spirit, 
see  p.  43  above.    Spirit  is  monosyllabic,  as  often.     Cf.  74.  8  above. 

7.  My  saucy  bark,  etc.  Tyler  quotes  T.  and  C.  i.  3.  35-45  and 
ii.  3.  277.     On  the  passage,  cf.  86.  1. 

10.  Soundless.  Unfathomable.  In  the  only  other  instance  in  S. 
(/.  C.v.  I.  36)  it  is  =  dumb. 

11.  Wrack 'd.     The  quarto  has  "  wrackt."     See  on  65.  6  above. 

14.  My  love  was  my  decay.  That  is,  the  cause  of  my  being  cast 
away  ;  because  it  was  my  love  that  prompted  me  to  write. 

LXXXI 

1.  Or.    Either.     Staunton  conjectures  "  Whe'r"  (=  Whether) 
See  on  59.  11  above. 

12.  The  breathers  of  this  world.  Those  who  are  now  living, 
Malone  compares  A.  Y.  L.  iii.  2.  297 :  "  I  will  chide  no  breather  in 
the  world  but  myself."     Walker  proposes  to  point  as  follows  :  — 

"  shall  o'er-read, 
And  tongues  to  be  your  being  shall  rehearse; 
When  all  the  breathers  of  this  world  are  dead, 
You  still  shall  live,"  etc. ; 

but,  as  Dowden  remarks,  it  is  rare  with  S.  to  let  the  verse  run  on 
without  a  pause  at  the  twelfth  line  of  the  sonnet. 

LXXXII 

The  poet  admits  (perhaps  in  reply  to  something  his  friend  had 
said)  that  he  had  no  exclusive  right  to  be  his  poetic  eulogist. 

2.  Attaint.  Blame,  discredit.  Cf.  the  verb  in  88.  7  below. 
O'erlook  =  peruse  ;    as  in  M.  N.  D.  ii.  2.  121,  Lear,  v.  I.  50,  etc. 


Notes  197 

3.  Dedicated  words.  Perhaps  referring  to  an  actual  or  proposed 
dedication  of  a  book. 

5.  Thou  art  as  fair  in  knowledge  as  in  hue.  "  S.  had  celebrated 
his  friend's  beauty  (hue)  ;  perhaps  his  learned  rival  had  celebrated 
the  patron's  knowledge  ;  such  excellence  reached  '  a  limit  past  the 
praise '  of  Shakspere,  who  knew  small  Latin  and  less  Greek " 
(Dowden).  Tyler  adds  :  "  Subsequently,  in  the  title  to  a  sonnet 
accompanying  his  translation  of  the  Iliad,  Chapman  addressed 
Pembroke  as  '  the  Learned  and  Most  Noble  Patron  of  Learning,' 
and  the  sonnet  celebrates  Pembroke's  'god-like  learning."' 

8.     The  time-bettering  days.     Cf.  32.  10  :   "this  growing  age." 

10.  Strained.  Forced,  overwrought.  Surely,  some  of  Shake- 
speare's laudation  of  his  friend  is  sufficiently  strained. 

11.  Sytnpathiz'd.  Described  sympathetically,  or  with  true  appre- 
ciation.    Cf.  R.  of  L.  1 1 13  :  — 

"  True  sorrow  then  is  feelingly  suffie'd 
When  with  like  semblance  it  is  sympathiz'd." 

The  meaning  seems  to  be  :  thy  nature,  which  is  truly  fair,  needs  no 
forced  rhetoric  to  set  it  off,  but  is  best  described  in  the  plain  lan- 
guage of  simple  truth. 

LXXXIII 

The  theme  of  82  is  continued.  Mr.  Samuel  Neil  (Life  of  S. 
1863),  who  believes  that  some  of  the  Sonnets  were  addressed  to 
(,)ueen  Elizabeth,  mentions  83-86  and  106  as  examples. 

2.    Fair.      Beauty.      See  on  16.  11  above. 

5.  And  therefore  have  I  slept,  etc.  And  therefore  I  have  ceased 
to  sound  your  praises. 

7.  Modern.  The  word  in  S.  regularly  means  "  ordinary,  com- 
monplace," and  that  is  probably  the  sense  here  ;  but  Tyler  takes  it 
to  be  =  more  recent,  and  compares  82.  S. 

8.  Grow.  Probably  =  be,  exi^t  ;  as  in  84.  4  and  often.  Tyler 
thinks  it  may  mean  "grow  as  a  poet  contemplates,"  or  "may 
illude  to  Mr    \V.  H.'s  still  immature  youth." 


198 


Notes 


What.     Malone  conjectured  "  that." 

12.   Bring  a  tomb.     Dowden  compares  17.  3  above. 

LXXXIV 

The  subject  of  the  rival  poet  is  continued  in  84-86. 

3.  In  whose  confine,  etc.  You  are  without  a  parallel  and  can  be 
compared  only  with  yourself.     For  store,  cf.  14.  12. 

6.    His.     Its  ;   as  in  9.  10,  14.  6,  and  74.  7  above. 

8.  Story.  Most  eds.  put  a  comma  after  this  word.  I  unhesitat- 
ingly retain  the  pointing  of  the  quarto,  which  Dowden  also  thinks 
may  be  right.     So  =  thus. 

II.  Fame.  Make  famous.  Elsewhere  S.  uses  only  the  participle 
famed. 

14.  Being  fond  on.  Doting  on.  Cf.  M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  266  : 
"  More  fond  on  her  than  she  upon  her  love."  See  also  the  verb 
(though  Schmidt  thinks  it  may  as  well  be  the  adjective)  in   T.  N. 

ii.  2.  35  :  — 

"  my  master  loves  her  dearly ; 
And  I,  poor  monster,  fond  as  much  on  him." 

LXXXV 

1.  Tongue-tied  Muse.     Cf.  80.  4  above. 

2.  Compil'd.     See  on  78.  9  above. 

3.  Reserve  their  character.  Probably  corrupt.  The  Cambridge 
ed.  records  (and  Tyler  adopts)  the  plausible  anonymous  conjec- 
ture, "  Rehearse  thy"  (or  "your").  Dowden  suggests  "Deserve 
their  character"  (  =  deserve  to  be  written).  Malone  makes 
reserve  —  preserve  (cf.  32.  7  above),  but  does  not  tell  us  what 
"  preserve  their  character  "  can  mean  here. 

4.  FiVd.  Polished  (as  with  a  file).  Cf.  L.  L.  L.  v.  1.  12  :  "his 
tongue  filed."     See  also  on  86.  13  below. 

6.  Unletter'd.  Since  the  clerk,  whether  lettered  or  unlettered, 
responds  Amen,  the  word  must  have  some  special  significance. 
The  meaning  may  be  that  he  endorses  the  eulogies  with  as  little 


Notes  199 


hesitation  as  the  clerk  does    the  Latin  to  which  he  cries  Amen, 
though  he  may  not  understand  it. 
1 1 .    But  that.     That  is,  what  I  add. 

LXXXVI 

I.  Proud  full  sail.  Cf.  80.  6  above.  As  Minto  notes,  this  suits 
well  the  grand  fourteen-syllable  lines  of  Chapman's  Iliad.  Fleay, 
who  believes  that  Xash  was  the  rival  poet,  sees  here  an  "  ironical 
reference  to  a  prosaic  sonnet  by  Nash  in  Prince  Pennilesse,  accom- 
panying a  complaint  that  Amyntas's  (Southampton's?)  name  is  omit- 
ted in  the  Sonnet  Catalogue  of  English  heroes  appended  to  Spenser's 
F.  Q."     Xash  uses  the  words  "  full  sail  "  in  that  connection. 

Furnivall  remarks  :  "  '  The  proud  full  sail  of  his  great  verse ' 
probably  alludes  to  the  swelling  hexameters  of  Chapman's  english- 
ing  of  Homer.  '  His  spirit,  by  spirits  taught  to  write,'  may  well 
refer  to  Chapman's  claim  that  Homer's  spirit  inspired  him,  a  claim 
made,  no  doubt,  in  words,  before  its  appearance  in  print  in  his 
Tears  of  Peace,  1609  :  — 

'  I  am,  said  he  [Homer],  that  spirit  Elysian, 

That   .    .    .  did  thy  bosom  fill 

With  such  a  flood  of  soul,  that  thou  wert  fain, 

With  exclamations  of  her  rapture  then, 

To  vent  it  to  the  echoes  of  the  vale,  .  .  . 

...  and  thou  didst  inherit 

My  true  sense,  for  the  time  then,  in  my  spirit ; 

And  I  invisibly  went  prompting  thee.'  .  .  . 
See,  too,  on  Shakspere's  sneer  at  his  rival's  '  affable  familiar  ghost, 
which  nightly  gulls  him  with  intelligence,'  Chapman's  Dedication 
to  his  Shadow  of  .Vight  (1594),  p.  3,  'not  without  having  drops  of 
their  souls  like  an  awaked  familiar,'  and  in  his  Tears  of  Peace  :  — 
'  Still  being  persuaded  by  the  shameless  night, 

That  all  my  reading,  writing,  all  my  pains, 

Are  serious  trifles,  and  the  idle  veins 

Of  an  unthrifty  angel  that  deludes 

My  simple  fancy .'   .    .   . 


ioo  Notes 

These  make  a  better  case  for  Chapman  being  the  rival  than  has 
been  made  for  any  one  else." 

Dowden  says :  "  No  Elizabethan  poet  wrote  ampler  verse,  none 
scorned  '  ignorance  '  more,  or  more  haughtily  asserted  his  learning 
than  Chapman.  In  The  Tears  of  Peace  (1609),  Homer  as  a  spirit 
visits  and  inspires  him ;  the  claim  to  such  inspiration  may  have 
been  often  made  by  the  translator  of  Homer  in  earlier  years. 
Chapman  was  preeminently  the  poet  of  Night.  The  Shadow  of 
Night,  with  the  motto  '  Versus  mei  habebunt  aliquantum  Noctis,' 
appeared  in  1594;  the  title  page  describes  it  as  containing  '  two 
poeticall  Hymnes.'  In  the  dedication  Chapman  assails  unlearned 
'passion-driven  men,'  'hide-bound  with  affection  to  great  men's 
fancies,'  and  ridicules  the  alleged  eternity  of  their  '  idolatrous  platts 
for  riches.'  'Now  what  a  supererogation  in  wit  this  is,  to  think 
Skill  so  mightily  pierced  with  their  loves,  that  she  should  prosti- 
tutely  show  them  her  secrets,  when  she  will  scarcely  be  looked 
upon  by  others,  but  with  invocation,  fasting,  watching.'  Of  Chap- 
man's Homer  a  part  appeared  in  1596;  dedicatory  sonnets  in  a 
later  edition  are  addressed  to  both   Southampton  and  Pembroke." 

3.  Inhearse.  Enclose  as  in  a  coffin  ;  found  again  in  I  Hen.  VI. 
iv.  7.  45. 

4.  Making  their  tomb  the  womb,  etc.  Malone  compares  R.  and 
/•  "•  3-9  ■  — 

"  The  earth  that 's  nature's  mother  is  her  tomb; 
What  is  her  burying  grave,  that  is  her  womb." 

See  also  Per.  ii.  3.  45  :  — 

"  Whereby  I  see  that  Time  's  the  king  of  men : 
He  's  both  their  parent  and  he  is  their  grave ;  " 

and  Milton,  P.  I.  ii.  911  :  "The  womb  of  nature,  and  perhaps  her 
grave."  We  find  the  same  thought  in  Lucretius,  v.  259  :  "  Omni- 
parens  eadem  rerum  commune  sepulcrum." 

8.  Astonished.  Stunned  as  by  a  thunderstroke.  Cf.  R.  of  Z, 
1730:   "  Stone-still,  astonish'd  with  this  deadly  deed,"  etc. 


Notes  201 

13.  FilVd  up  his  line.  Malone,  Steevens,  and  Dyce  read  "  fil'd," 
etc.  Steevens  cites  Jonson,  Verses  on  Shakespeare  :  "  In  his  well- 
torned  and  true-filed  lines."  But,  as  Dowden  notes,  JilVd  up  his 
line  is  opposed  to  then  lacked  I  matter.  The  quarto  has  "  fild,"  as 
in  17.  2  and  63.  3  ;   while  it  has  "fil'd"  in  85.  4. 

14.  Lack 'd  I matter.  Cf.  T.  and  C.  ii.  3.  103  :  "Then  will  Ajax 
lack  matter." 

LXXXVII 

"  Increasing  coldness  on  his  friend's  part  brings  S.  to  the  point 
of  declaring  that  all  is  over  between  them.  This  sonnet  in  form  is 
distinguished  by  double-rhymes  throughout  "  (Dowden)  ;  but  this 
is  not  true  of  lines  2  and  4. 

4.  Determinate.  "  Determined,  ended,  out  of  date.  The  term 
is  used  in  legal  conveyances"  (Malone).  Cf.  Rich.  II.  i.  3.  150. 
See  also  the  noun  in  Sonn.  13.  6.  Schmidt  explains  the  word  as 
=  "limited  ;  "  as  in  T.  N.  ii.  1.  II  :  "my  determinate  voyage  is 
mere  extravagancy." 

6.  Riches.  Singular  ;  as  the  word  originally  and  properly  was 
(Fr.  richesse).     Cf.  alms;  a  true  singular,  as  S.  makes  it. 

8.  Patent.  Privilege  ;  the  charter  of  3  above.  Cf.  M.  N.  D.  i. 
1.  80  :  "my  virgin  patent  ;  "  A.  W.  iv.  5.  69  :  "a  patent  for  his 
sauciness,"  etc. 

11.  Misprision.  Mistake,  error.  Cf.  Much  Ado,  iv.  1.  187  : 
"There  is  some  strange  misprision  in  the  princes,"  etc.  For  grow- 
ing, see  on  83.  8  above. 

14.  No  such  matter.  Mothing  of  the  kind.  Cf.  Much  Ado,  ii.  3. 
225  :  "  the  sport  will  be  when  they  hold  one  an  opinion  of  another's 
dotage,  and  no  such  matter,"  etc. 

LXXXVIII 

A  continuation  of  87,  as  89  and  90  also  are. 

1.  Set  me  light.  Set  light  by  me,  esteem  me  lightly.  Cf. 
Rich.  II.  ii.  3.  293  :    "The  man  that  mocks  at  it  and  sets  it  light." 


202  Notes 

3.  Against  myself.     Cf.  149.  2. 

4.  Forsworn.     As  virtually  pledged  to  lasting  friendship. 

7.  Attainted.     See  on  82.  2  above. 

8.  Shalt.  The  quarto  has  "shall ;  "  corrected  by  Sewell.  That 
=  so  that  ;   as  in  76.  7,  etc. 

12.  Double-vantage.  The  hyphen  was  inserted  by  Malone.  The 
meaning  seems  to  be  that  any  benefit  he  can  do  to  himself,  though 
it  be  to  his  own  injury,  he  counts  as  a  double  gain. 

LXXXIX 

2.  Comment.     Enlarge,  expatiate. 

3.  My  lameness.     See  on  37.  3  above. 

6.  To  set  a  form,  etc.  By  giving  a  good  semblance  to  the 
change  which  you  desire  ;  the  "  indefinite  "  infinitive.  Palgrave 
makes  it  =  "  by  defining  the  change  you  desire."  Dowden  com- 
pares M.  JV.  D.'i.  1.  233. 

8.  /  will  acquaintance  strangle.  "  I  will  put  an  end  to  our 
familiarity"  (Malone).  Cf.  T.  N.  v.  1.  150  :  "That  makes  thee 
strangle  thy  propriety"  (disavow  thy  personality)  ;  A.  and  C.  ii.  6. 
130  :  "the  band  that  seems  to  tie  their  friendship  together  will  be 
the  very  strangler  of  their  amity."  Malone  calls  strangle  "  un- 
couth ;  "  but,  as  Knight  asks,  "why  is  any  word  called  uncouth 
which  expresses  a  meaning  more  clearly  and  forcibly  than  any 
other  word  ?  The  miserable  affectation  of  the  last  age,  in  reject- 
ing words  that  in  sound  appeared  not  to  harmonize  with  the  min- 
cing prettiness  of  polite  conversation,  emasculated  our  language  ; 
and  it  will  take  some  time  to  restore  it  to  its  ancient  nervousness." 
P"or  look  strange,  cf.  C.  of  E.  v.  1.  295  :  "  Why  look  you  strange  on 
me  ?  " 

13.  Debate.  Contest,  quarrel  ;  the  only  meaning  in  S.  Cf. 
M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  116  :  — 

"  And  this  same  progeny  of  evils  comes 
Froni  our  debate,  from  our  dissension." 


Notes  203 


xc 

6.  The  rearward,  etc.      Cf.  Much  Ado,  iv.  I.  128  :  — 

"Thought  I  thy  spirits  were  stionger  than  thy  shames, 
Myself  would,  on  the  rearward  of  reproaches, 
Strike  at  thy  life." 

7.  Give  not  a  windy  night,  etc.  Referring  to  the  fact  that  wind 
often  precedes  rain.     Cf.   T.  and  C.  iv.  4.  55,  A',  of  L.  1788,  etc. 

13.    Strains  of  woe.     Dowden  quotes  Much  Ado,  v.  I.  12  :  — 

"  Measure  his  woe  the  length  and  breadth  of  mine, 
And  let  it  answer  every  strain  for  strain." 

XCI 

The  beginning  of  a  new  group,  including  92-96. 

3.  New-fangled  ill.  Fashionable  but  ugly.  Cf.  L.  L.  L.'\.  I.  106 
and  .-/.   }'.  /..  iv.  1.  152. 

4.  Horse.  A  contracted  plural  (as  line  1 1  indicates) ;  as  in 
Macb.'w.  1.  140,   T.  of  S.  ind.  I.  61,  etc.     Cf.  sense  in  112.  10  below. 

9.  Better.  The  quarto  has  "  bitter  ;  "  corrected  in  the  ed.  of 
1640. 

XCII 

10.  On  thy  revolt  doth  lie.  Hangs  upon  thy  faithlessness.  Cf. 
Oth.  iii.  3.  18S  :   "The  smallest  doubt  or  fear  of  her  revolt,"  etc. 

13.    Blessed-fair.      Hyphened  by  Malone. 

XCI  1 1 

3.  New.  To  something  new  or  different  ;  that  is,  aversion  or 
hate. 

7.  In  many's  looks.  Cf.  A',  and  J.  i.  3.  91  :  "in  many's  eyes" 
(omitted  by  Schmidt).      On  the  passage,  cf.  Macb.  i.  4.  11,  i.  7.  83. 

11.  Whatever.  The  quarto  has  "what  ere;  "  corrected  by 
Gildon. 


204  Notes 


xciv 

"In  93  Shakspere  has  described  his  friend  as  able  to  show  a 
sweet  face  while  harbouring  false  thoughts;  the  subject  is  enlarged 
on  in  the  present  sonnet.  They  who  can  hold  their  passions  in 
check,  who  can  seem  loving  yet  keep  a  cool  heart,  who  move  pas- 
sion in  others,  yet  are  cold  and  unmoved  themselves  —  they  rightly 
inherit  from  heaven  large  gifts,  for  they  husband  them  ;  whereas 
passionate  intemperate  natures  squander  their  endowments ;  those 
who  can  assume  this  or  that  semblance  as  they  see  reason  are  the 
masters  and  owners  of  their  faces  ;  others  have  no  property  in  such 
excellences  as  they  possess,  but  hold  them  for  the  advantage  of  the 
prudent  self-contained  persons.  True,  these  self-contained  persons 
may  seem  to  lack  generosity  ;  but,  then,  without  making  voluntary 
gifts  they  give  inevitably,  even  as  the  summer's  flower  is  sweet  to 
the  summer,  though  it  live  and  die  only  to  itself.  Yet,  let  such  an 
one  beware  of  corruption,  which  makes  odious  the  sweetest  flowers  " 
(Dowden). 

2-8.  That  do  not,  etc.  Tyler  compares  what  Hamlet  says  to 
Horatio  (iii.  2.  70-76)  :  — 

"  Thou  hast  been 
As  one,  in  suffering  all,  that  suffers  nothing,"  etc. 

For  the  corruption  of  such  a  character,  Tyler  refers  to  Angelo  in 
M.  for  M. 

4.     Cold.     The  quarto  has  "  could  ;  "  corrected  in  the  ed.  of  1640. 

6.    Expense.     Expenditure,  waste.     Cf.  129.  1  below. 

8.  Stewards.  "  And  so  responsible  ;  not  lords  and  owners,  hav- 
ing absolute  possession  "  (Verity). 

II.  Base.  Staunton  conjectures  "foul,"  and  Walker  "barest" 
for  basest  in  the  next  line  ;  but  I  see  no  necessity  for  either  change. 
Base  is  used  very  often  by  S.  in  the  general  sense  of  mean,  bad,  vile, 
etc.     Cf.  33.  5,  34.  3,  74.  12,  141.  6,  etc. 

14.  Lilies,  etc.  This  line  is  found  also  in  Edw.  III.  ii.  1,  the 
passage  being  as  follows  :  — 


Notes  205 

!  A.  spacious  field  of  reasons  could  I  urge 
Between  his  glory,  daughter,  and  thy  shame: 
That  poison  shows  worst  in  a  golden  cup ; 
Dark  night  seems  darker  by  the  lightning  flash; 
Lilies  that  fester  smell  far  worse  than  weeds; 
And  every  glory,  that  inclines  to  sin, 
The  same  is  treble  by  the  opposite." 

The  scene  is  one  that  some  critics  ascribe  to  S.  The  play  was 
first  printed  in  1596.  See  also  on  142.  6  below.  Fester  —  rot ; 
as  in  Hen.  V.  iv.  3.  88  and  R.  and  J.  iv.  3.  43.  On  the  pas- 
sage, cf.  69.   12. 

Dowden  compares  with  this  sonnet  T.  N.  hi.  4.  399  fol. :  "  But 
O  how  vile  an  idol,"  etc. 

xcv 

Continues  94,  as  96  also  does. 
2.    Canker.     See  on  35.  4  above. 

6.    Sport.     Sensuality,  licentiousness  ;    as  in  M.for  M.  iii.  2.  127, 
Oth.  ii.  1.  230,  etc.     Cf.  sportive  in  121.  6. 
S.    Naming  thy  name,  etc.     Steevens  compares  A.  and  C.  ii.  2. 

243:  — 

"  for  vilest  things 
Become  themselves  in  her,  that  the  holy  priests 
Bless  her  when  she  is  riggish." 

1 2.     Turn.     The    quarto   has    "  turnes ;  "    corrected    by  Sewell. 
On  the  passage,  cf.  40.   13. 

XCVI 

2.  Gentle  sport.     Cf.  95.  6  above.      Gentle  may  mean  "  gentle- 
manly ;  "   that    is,  as  some   uiv,   or  call   it. 

3.  More  and  less.      High  and  low  ;    as  in   I  Hen.  IV.  iv.  3.  6S  : 
"  The  more  and  less  came  in  with  cap  and  knee." 


2o6  Notes 

6.    Basest.     See  on  94.  1 1  above. 

10.  If  like  a  lamb,  etc.  "  If  he  could  change  his  natural  look, 
and  assume  the  innocent  visage  of  a  lamb  "  (Malone).  As  Dowden 
notes,  the  thought  of  9,  10  is  expressed  in  different  imagery  in  93. 
For  translate  =  transform,  cf.  Haiti,  iii.  I.  113  :  "translate  beauty 
into  his  likeness." 

12.  The  strength  of  all  thy  state.  "  Used  periphrastically,  and  = 
all  thy  strength"  (Schmidt).  Dowden  makes  state  =  "  majesty, 
splendour,"  and  Tyler  "noble  beauty." 

13,  14.     The  same  couplet  closes  Sonn.  36.     See  p.  13  above. 

XCVII 

Sonnets  97 -99  seem  unconnected  with  those  preceding  and  follow- 
ing. I  doubt  whether  they  have  anything  to  do  with  "  Mr.  W.  H." 
or  are  addressed  to  a  man.  See  p.  13  above.  Since  the  Introduc- 
tion was  written  I  see  that  Hudson  {Life,  Art,  and  Characters  of  S.) 
declares  his  belief  that  Sonn.  97-99,  also  those  punning  on  the 
name  of  Will,  together  with  109-117,  were  addressed  to  Anne 
Hathaway.  He  is  satisfied  that  when  S.  wrote  these  sonnets,  "his 
thoughts  were  travelling  home  to  the  bride  of  his  youth  and  mother 
of  his  children." 

5.  This  time  removed.  "This  time  in  which  I  was  remote  or 
absent  from  thee"  (Malone).  Cf.  T.  N.  v.  1.  92:  "a  twenty 
years  removed  thing." 

6.  The  teeming  autumn,  etc.  Malone  compares  M.  N.  D.  ii.  1, 
112  :   "The  childing  autumn,"  etc. 

7.  Prime.  Spring  ;  as  in  R.  of  L.  332  :  "  To  add  a  more  re- 
joicing to  the  prime." 

10.  Hope  of  orphans.  Probably  =  hope  of  posthumous  offspring, 
as  Tyler  makes  it. 

13.  Cheer.  Face,  countenance  ;  its  original  sense  ;  as  in  M.  Ar.  D. 
iii.  2.  96:  "pale  of  cheer,"  etc.  Schmidt  puts  it  under  cheer  = 
;'  cheerfulness." 


Notes  207 


XCVIII 

2.  Proud-pied  April.  April  in  its  richly  variegated  apparel.  For 
pied,  cf.  L.  L.  L.  v.  2.  904  :  "daisies  pied,"  etc.  On  the  passage, 
cf.  R.  and  J.  i.  2.  27  :  — 

"  Such  comfort  as  do  lusty  young  men  feel 
When  well-apparell'd  April  on  the  heel 
Of  limping  winter  treads." 

5.  refers  to  April  oftener  than  to  any  other  month  ;  both  for 
its  flowers  and  vernal  beauty,  and  for  its  uncertain  and  showery 
weather.  For  allusions  in  the  Sonnets,  cf.  3.  10,  21.  7,  and  104.  7. 
May,  however,  is  a  "  close  second."  March  comes  next  (12  times), 
but  only  on  account  of  the  "  Ides  of  March"  in/.  C,  where  10  of 
the  passages  occur.  December  is  mentioned  7  times,  June  4,  July  3, 
January  and  August  twice,  and  February  once  ;  the  other  three 
months  not  at  all. 

4.  That.  So  that  ;  as  in  76.  7  above.  Heavy  Saturn  = 
"the  gloomy  side  of  nature;  or  the  saturnine  spirit  in  life" 
(1'algrave). 

6.  Different  /lowers  in,  etc.  That  is,  flowers  different  in,  etc. 
Cf.  44.  6  above. 

7.  Summer's  story.  Malone  remarks  :  "By  a  summer's  story  S. 
seems  to  have  meant  some  gay  fiction.  Thus  his  comedy  founded 
on  the  adventures  of  the  king  and  queen  of  the  fairies,  he  calls  a 
Midsummer  Night's  Dream.  On  the  other  hand,  in  W.  T.  he  tells 
us  'a  sad  tale's  best  for  winter. ,'     So  also  in  Cymb.  iii.  4.  12  :  — 

'  If  't  be  summer  news, 
Smile  to  't  before;  if  winterly,  thou  need'st 
But  keep  that  countenance  still.'  " 

Ouwden  asks  :  "  Hut  is  not  A  Midsummer-Night'' s  Dream  so 
named  because  on  Midsummer  Eve  men's  dreams  ran  riot,  ghosts 
were  visible,  maidens  practised  divination  for  husbands,  and  'mid- 
summer madness'  (  '/'.  .V.  iii.  4.  61)  reached  its  height  ?"  Here, 
however,  as  summer's  story  is  immediately  connected  with  the  men- 


2o8  Notes 

tion  of  spring  and  April  above,  we  should  expect  "springtime 
story,"  or  its  equivalent. 

9.  Lily's.  The  quarto  has  "  lillics,"  which  was  probably  meant 
to  be  the  possessive  ;  but  Malone,  Tyler,  and  others  retain  it  as  the 
objective  plural.  Lily's  zuhite  seems  more  in  keeping  with  vermil- 
ion in  the  rose ;  but  the  question  is  a  close  one  after  all,  as  often 
in  choosing  between  possible  interpretations  of  the  Sonnets. 

11.  They  were  but  sweet,  etc.  "The  poet  refuses  to  enlarge  on 
the  beauty  of  the  flowers,  declaring  that  they  are  only  sweet,  only 
delightful,  so  far  as  they  resemble  his  friend"  (Steevens).  Malone 
would  read  "  They  were,  my  sweet,"  etc.  Lettsom  proposes  "  They 
were  but  fleeting  figures  of  delight."  These  are  only  impertinent 
meddlings  with  the  original  text. 

XCIX 

This  sonnet  has  fifteen  lines,  like  one  of  the  sonnets  in  Barnes's 
Parthenophil  and  Parthenophe,  as  Dowden  notes. 

3.  Purple.  Red.  The  word  is  often  used  loosely,  like  the  Latin 
purpureus. 

6.  Condemned  for  thy  hand.  Condemned  for  stealing  the 
whiteness  of  thy  hand. 

7.  And  buds  of  marjoram,  etc.  Dowden  compares  Suckling's 
Tragedy  of  Brennoralt,  iv.  I  :  — 

"  Hair  curling,  and  cover'd  like  buds  of  marjoram  ; 
Part  tied  in  negligence,  part  loosely  flowing." 

He  adds  :  "  Mr.  H.  C.  Hart  tells  me  that  buds  of  marjoram  are 
dark  purple-red  before  they  open,  and  afterwards  pink  ;  dark 
auburn  I  suppose  would  be  the  nearest  approach  to  marjoram  in 
the  colour  of  hair.  Mr.  Hart  suggests  that  the  marjoram  has  stolen 
not  colour  but  perfume  from  the  young  man's  hair.  Gervase  Mark- 
ham  gives  sweet  marjoram  as  an  ingredient  in  'The  water  of  sweet 
smells,'  and  Culpepper  says  '  marjoram  is  much  used  in  all  odor- 
iferous waters.'     Cole  {Adam  in  /{den,  ed.  1657)  says  '  Marjerome 


Notes  209 

is  a  chief  ingredient  in  most  of  those  powders  that  Barbers  use,  in 
whose  shops  I  have  seen  great  store  of  this  herb  hung  up.' " 

8.  On  thorns  did  stand.  A  quibbling  allusion  to  the  proverbial 
expression,  "to  stand  on  thorns."  Cf.  W.  T.  iv.  4.  596:  "But  O 
the  thorns  we  stand  upon  !  " 

9.  One.  The  quarto  has  "  Our ; "  corrected  by  Sewell.  For 
blushing,  cf.  R.  of  L.  479. 

13.    Canker.     See  on  35.  4  above. 

15.    Sweet.     Walker  conjectures  "  scent." 


An  invocation  to  the  Muse,  written  after  a  suspension  of  sonnet- 
writing. 

3.  Fury.  Poetic  enthusiasm  or  inspiration.  Cf.  L.  L.  L.  iv.  3. 
229  :  "  what  fury  hath  inspir'd  thee  now  ?  "  So  we  have  "  prophetic 
fury"  in  Oth.  iii.  4.  72.  See  also  "poet's  rage"  in  17.  11  above, 
and  the  "  fine  frenzy  "  of  M.  .V.  /).  v.  1.  12. 

4.  Darkening.     Sullying,  degrading. 

9.  Kesty.  Too  fond  of  rest,  lazy,  torpid  ;  as  in  Cymb.  iii.  6.  34 : 
"  resty  sloth,"  etc.  Dyce  quotes  Coles,  Latin  Diet. :  "  Resty,  piger, 
lentus." 

11.  Satire.  Satirist.  Walker  quotes  Jonson,  Masque  of  Time 
Vindicated ':  " 'T  is  Chronomastix,  the  brave  satyr;"  Poetaster,  v. 
1  :  "The  honest  satyr  hath  the  happiest  soul"  [satyr  and  satire 
were  used  interchangeably  in  this  sense]  ;  Coffe,  Courageous 
Turk,  ii.  3  :  — 

"  Poor  men  may  love,  and  none  their  wills  correct, 
But  all  turn  satires  of  a  king's  affect ;  " 

Shirley,  Witty  Fair  One,  i.  3:  "prithee,  Satire,  choose  another 
walk,"  etc.  Tyler  paraphrases  thus:  "Cause  decay  to  be  disre- 
garded and  contemned,  by  conferring  eternal  fame." 

!.}.    So  thou  prevent'' st,  etc.     "So  by  anticipation  thou  hinderest 
the  destructive  effects  of  his  weapons"  (Steevens). 
shakespeake's  sonnets — 14 


•2io  Notes 


ci 

A  continuation  of  the  address  to  the  Muse. 

3.  Truth  and  beauty.  Cf.  14.  II,  14,  54.  I,  2,  Phccnix  and  Tur- 
tle, 64,  etc. 

6.  Zftr  colour.     That  of  my  friend. 

7.  Lay.  That  is,  lay  on,  like  a  painter's  colours.  Cf.  T.  N.  i.  5. 
258:- 

"  'T  is  beauty  truly  blent,  whose  red  and  white 
Nature's  own  sweet  and  ctinning  hand  laid  on." 

11.  Him.  Changed  to  "her"  in  the  ed.  of  1640;  as  him  and  he 
in  14  to  "  her  "  and  "  she." 

CII 

Here  the  poet  excuses  his  temporary  silence,  and  continues  the 
subject  in  103. 

3.  That  love  is  merchandized,  etc.  That  is,  it  is  degraded  by 
being  treated  as  a  "thing  of  sale."  See  on  21.  14  above;  and  cf. 
L.  L.  L.  ii.  1.  13:  — 

"my  beauty,  though  but  mean, 
Needs  not  the  painted  flourish  of  your  praise: 
Beauty  is  bought  by  judgment  of  the  eye, 
Not  utter'd  by  base  sale  of  chapmen's  tongues." 

7.  In  summer's  front.  In  the  beginning  of  summer.  Cf.  IV.  T. 
iv.  4.  3 :  "  Peering  in  April's  front." 

8.  Jler  pipe.  The  quarto  has  "his  pipe  ;  "  corrected  by  Hous- 
man  {Coll.  of  Eng.  Sonnets,  1835).  Tyler  retains  "  his,"  though 
he  refers  to  the  her  in  10. 

9.  Not  that  the  summer,  etc.     Capell  quotes  M.  of  V.  v.  I.  104  :  — 

"The  nightingale,  if  she  should  sing  by  day, 
When  every  goose  is  cackling,  would  be  thought 
No  better  a  musician  then  the  wren." 

12.  Sweets  grown  common,  etc.  Cf.  52.  3,  4.  See  also  T.  N.  i. 
I.  8:   **  'T  is  not  so  sweet  now  as  it  was  before." 


Notes  211 


cm 

1.  Poverty.     The  abstract  for  the  concrete. 

2.  Her  pride.     The  power  of  which  she  is  proud. 

3.  The  argument  all  bare.     The  mere  theme  of  my  verse. 

7.  Blunt.     Dull,  clumsy. 

8.  Dulling  my  lines.     Proving  them  inadequate. 

9.  Slri?'ing  to  mend,  etc.  Cf.  Lear,  i.  4.  369  :  "  Striving  to  bet- 
ter, oft  we  mar  what  's  well." 

II.  Pass.  Issue,  result;  but  not  a  figure  from  fencing,  as  has 
been  suggested. 

CIV 

The  poet  has  now  seen  his  friend,  and  refers  to  the  three  years 
since  they  first  became  acquainted. 

3.  Winters.  Dyce  reads  "  winters',"  which  may  be  right,  though 
the  plural  verb  is  rather  in  favour  of  the  text. 

4.  Summers'  pride.  Steevens  cites  R.  and  J.  i.  2.  IO:  "  Let  two 
more  summers  wither  in  their  pride." 

10.  Steal  from  his  figure.  Creep  away  from  the  figure  on  the 
dial.  Cf.  77.  7  above.  The  reference  here  seems  to  be  to  a  clock, 
not  to  a  sun-dial. 

CV 

"To  the  beauty  praised  in  100,  and  the  truth  and  beauty  in  101, 
S.  now  adds  a  third  perfection,  kindness  ;  and  these  three  sum  up 
the  perfections  of  his  friend  "  (Dowden). 

1.  Let  not  my  love,  etc.  "  Because  the  continual  repetition  of  the 
same  praises  seemed  like  a  form  of  worship"  (Walker).  Cf.  108. 
1-8. 

8.  L.ear'es  out  difference.     Omits  reference  t<>  other  qualities. 

9.  Pair,  kind,  and  true.     Cf.  M.  of  V.  ii.  6.  53  fol. 

14.  Never  kept  seat.  Gildon  reads  "  never  sate,"  and  Sewell 
"  have  never  sate." 


212  Notes 


cvi 

Loosely  connected  with  the  preceding  sonnet. 

1.  Chronicle.  Hales  (quoted  by  Dovvden)  asks:  "  What  chroni- 
cle is  he  thinking  of?  The  Faerie  Quecnc?"  The  chronicle  of 
wasted  lime  may  be  simply  =  the  history  of  the  past. 

2.  Wights.  Persons.  The  word  is  seldom  used  by  S.  except  for 
the  sake  of  rhyme,  as  here  and  in  L.  L.  L.  i.  i.  178 ;  or  in  the  style 
of  the  old  ballads,  as  in  Oth.  ii.  1.  159,  ii.  3.  96,  etc.  He  puts  it 
also  into  the  mouth  of  Pistol  {At.  W.  i.  3.  23,  40,  Hen.  V.  ii.  1.  64). 
In  T.  and  C.  iv.  2.  12  it  is  feminine. 

7.  Antique.     For  the  accent,  see  on  19.  10  and  59.  7. 

8.  Master.  Possess,  control ;  as  in  Hen.  V.  ii.  4.  137:  "these 
he  masters  now,"  etc. 

9.  Dowden  compares  Constable's  Diana  :  — 

"  Miracle  of  the  world,  I  never  will  deny 
That  former  poets  praise  the  beauty  of  their  days; 
But  all  those  beauties  were  but  figures  of  thy  praise, 
And  all  those  poets  did  of  thee  but  prophesy." 

11.  And,  for  they  lookd.  And  because  they  looked.  See  on  54. 
9  above.  With  divining  eyes ;  that  is,  only  guessing  at  what  was 
to  come. 

12.  Skill.  The  quarto  has  "still;  "  corrected  by  Malone  (the 
conjecture  of  Tyrwhitt  and  Capell). 

CVII 

"Continues  the  celebration  of  his  friend,  and  rejoices  in  their 
restored  affection.  Mr.  Massey  explains  this  sonnet  as  a  song  of 
triumph  for  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  deliverance  of  South- 
ampton from  the  Tower.  Elizabeth  (Cynthia)  is  the  eclipsed  mor- 
tal moon  of  line  5  ;    cf.  A.  and  C.  iii.  13.  153  :  — 

'  Alack,  our  terrene  moon  [Cleopatra] 
Is  now  eclips'd.' 


Notes  213 

Hut  an  earlier  reference  to  a  moon-eclipse  (35.  3)  has  to  do  with 
his  friend,  not  with  Elizabeth,  and  in  the  present  sonnet  the  moon 
is  imagined  as  having  endured  her  eclipse,  and  come  out  none  the 
less  bright.  I  interpret  (as  Mr.  Simpson  does,  in  his  Philosophy  of 
Shakspere's  Sonnets,  p.  79)  :  '  Not  my  own  fears  (that  my  friend's 
beauty  may  be  on  the  wane)(see  104.  9-14)  nor  the  prophetic  soul 
of  the  world,  prophesying  in  the  persons  of  dead  knights  and  ladies 
your  perfections  (see  106),  and  so  prefiguring  your  death,  can  con- 
tine  my  lease  of  love  to  a  brief  term  of  years.  Darkness  and  fears 
are  past,  the  augurs  of  ill  find  their  predictions  falsified,  doubts  are 
over,  peace  has  come  in  place  of  strife  ;  the  love  in  my  heart  is 
fresh  and  young  (see  108.  9),  and  I  have  conquered  Death,  for  in 
this  verse  we  both  shall  find  life  in  the  memories  of  men  '  "  (Dow- 
den).  If  the  moon  is  Elizabeth  (which  is  probable)  the  reference 
may  be  to  the  Rebellion  of  Essex. 

I.    Prophetic  soul.     Cf.  Ham.  i.  5.  40:  "  O,  my  prophetic  soul !  " 

4.  Suppos'd  as  forfeit,  etc.     Supposed  to  be  a  limited  lease. 
Confirid.    For  the  accent,  see  on  33.  7.    For  the  ordinary  accent, 

cf.  105.  7  and  no.  12. 

5.  Eclipse.      See  on  60.  7  above. 

6.  Mock  their  own  presage.  "  Laugh  at  the  futility  of  their  own 
predictions"  (Steevens). 

7.  Incertainties.  Cf.  1 1 5.  II  below,  and  IV.  T.  iii.  2.  170. 
These  are  the  only  instances  of  the  word  in  S. ,  and  uncertainty 
also  occurs  three  times. 

8.  And  peace  proclaims,  etc.  "The  peace  completed  early  in 
1609,  which  ended  the  war  between  Spain  and  the  United  Prov- 
inces, might  answer  to  the  tone  of  this  sonnet"  (Palgrave).  Of 
endless  age  —  to  last  indefinitely. 

9.  This  most  balmy  time.  Apparently  alluding  to  the  weather 
at  the  time  when  he  writes. 

10.  My  love  looks  fresh.  Dowden  is  doubtful  whether  this  means 
"  the  love  in  my  heart,"  or  "  my  love  "  =  my  friend.  On  the  whole, 
the  former  seems  the  more  probable.     Cf.  104.  8  and  108.  9. 


214  Notes 

Subscribes.     Yields,  submits.     Cf.  T.  of  S.  i.  I.  81,  etc. 
12.    Insults  o'er,  etc.     Exults  or  triumphs  over  the  hosts  of  the 
vulgar  dead.     Cf.  3  Hen.  VI.  i.  3.  14:  "  insulting  o'er  his  prey." 

CVIII 

The  poet's  verse  has  but  one  theme,  and  has  not  that  been 
exhausted?     Cf.  Sotin.  86,  where  the  answer  is  similar. 

3.  New  to  register.  The  quarto  has  "  now  "  for  new  ;  corrected 
by  Malone.  Walker  would  read  "  What  's  now  to  speak,  what 
now,"  etc. 

5.  Sweet  boy.  The  ed.  of  1640  has  "  sweet -love."  Prayers 
divine ;  that  is,  to  God,  as  in  a  ritual. 

9.  love's  fresh  case.  "  Love's  new  condition  and  circumstances, 
the  new  youth  of  love  spoken  of  in  107.  10"  (Dowden).  Malone 
takes  it  to  be  a  reference  to  the  poet's  own  compositions.  Verity 
thinks  the  meaning  is:  "In  the  case  of  love  which  is  ever  fresh." 
Tyler  explains  thus:  "Though  a  change  may  have  occurred  in  the 
appearance  of  the  beloved  one,  placing  the  lover  consequently  in  a 
'  fresh  case,'  a  new  position."  It  is  a  close  question  between  the 
possible  interpretations. 

12.  Antiquity.     The  past  (of  their  friendship). 

13,  14.  Finding,  etc.  "Finding  the  first  conception  of  love  — 
that  is,  love  as  passionate  as  at  first  —  excited  by  one  whose  years 
and  outward  form  show  the  effects  of  age  "  (Dowden).  "The  first 
conceit  of  love  is  still  produced,  where,  to  the  ordinary  eye,  the 
->ower  to  charm  is  gone"  (Tyler). 

CIX 

This  sonnet  seems  to  refer  to  scandalous  reports  concerning  th? 
poet's  life  during  the  absence  from  his  friend. 

2.    Qualify.     Temper,  moderate.     Cf.  K.  of  L.  424:  — 

"  His  rage  of  lust  by  gazing  qualified ; 
Slack'd,  not  suppress'd,"  etc. 


Notes  i  t  5 


4.  In  thy  breast.  Cf.  Z.  Z.  Z.  v.  2.  826 :  "  Hence  ever  then  my 
heart  is  in  thy  breast."  See  also  A.  Y.  L.  v.  4.  121,  Rich.  III.  i.  I. 
204,  etc. 

5.  My  home  of  love,  etc.  Malone  compares  M.  N.  D.  iii.  2. 
1 70 :  — 

"  My  heart  to  her  but  as  guest-wise  sojourn'd, 
And  now  to  Helen  is  it  home  return'd." 

Ranged  =  gone  astray,  been  inconstant.     Cf.  T.  of  S.  iii.  I.  91. 

7.  fust  to  the  time,  etc.  "  Punctual  to  the  time,  not  altered  with 
the  time  "  (Dowden)  ;  the  only  instance  of  this  sense  of  exchanged 
in  S. 

11.    Stain'd.     Staunton  conjectures  "strain'd." 

14.  Afy  rose.  Cf.  I.  2  above  for  the  figure  ;  but  here  it  is  some- 
what peculiarly  applied  to  the  person  addressed,  if  that  person  is  a 
man.  Is  it  certain  that  this  sonnet  and  the  next  are  to  a  man?  It 
has  been  generally  understood  as  referring  to  the  poet's  life  as  a 
player  ;    but  this  is  somewhat  doubtful. 

CX 

A  continuation  of  109,  as  in  probably  is. 

2.  Motley.  A  wearer  of  motley,  that  is,  a  fool  or  jester.  Cf. 
A.  V.  I.  iii.  3.  79. 

3.  Cord  mine  cnvn  thoughts.  That  is,  done  violence  to  them. 
Cf.    7".  and  ('.  iii.   3.   228:   "My  fame  is  shrewdly  gor'd,"  etc. 

4.  A  lade  old  offences,  etc.  "  F.ntered  into  new  friendships  and 
loves  which  were  transgressions  against  my  old  love"  (Dowden). 
Verity  explains  thus  :  "prostituted  my  love — a  love  so  new,  so 
unknown  to  other  men,  so  rare  —  to  the  old  hackneyed  purposes 
ami  commonplaces  of  the  statue,  made  capital  out  of  my  emotions, 
turned  my  passion  to  account,  sold  cheap  what  is  most  dear  —  all 
this  being  done  in  his  capacity  as  actor." 

o.    Strangely.      I )istantly,  mistrustfully.      Cf.  49.  5  above. 

7.    Blenches.     Startings-aside,  aberrations  ;    the  only  instance  of 


216  Notes 

the  noun  in  S.     Cf.  the  verb  in  W.  T.  i.  2.  333,  T.  and  C.  ii.  2.  68, 
M.for  M.  iv.  5.  5,  etc. 

9.  Have  -what  shall  have  no  end.  Malone  reads  "  save  what  " 
(the  conjecture  of  Tyrwhitt) ;  but  what  shall  have  no  end  —  my 
lasting  love  for  you. 

10.  Grind,  etc.     Whet  by  newer  attachments. 

12.  A  god  in  love,  etc.  "This  line  seems  to  be  a  reminiscence 
of  the  thoughts  expressed  in  105,  and  to  refer  to  the  First  Com- 
mandment "  (Dowden) ;  but  I  doubt  whether  there  is  such  a 
reference. 

13,  14.  Then  give  me  welcome,  etc.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
this  is  addressed  to  a  man. 

CXI 

This  sonnet  may  possibly  refer  to  his  life  as  actor,  even  if  110 
does  not. 

1.  With.  The  quarto  has  "wish;"  corrected  by  Gildon.  For 
chide  with,  cf.   Cymb.  v.  4.  32,  Oth.  iv.  2.  167,  etc. 

2.  Harmful.     The  ed.  of  1640  has  "  harmlesse." 
8.    Renewed.     Made  new,  completely  changed. 
IO.    Eisel.    Vinegar.     Skelton  says  of  Jesus:  — 

"  He  drank  eisel  and  gall 
To  redeeme  us  withal." 

Cf.  Ham.  v.  I.  299,  where  the  use  of  the  word  (if  it  be  the  same) 
has  been  much  disputed. 

12.  To  correct  correction.  "To  complete  and  perfect  the  cor- 
rection of  my  conduct "  (Tyler). 

CXII 

Apparently  connected  with  III. 

4.  O'er-green.  Sewell  reads  "  u'er-skreen,"  and  Steevens  con- 
jectures "o'er-grieve."      The   meaning  is  clear,  though  the  expres- 


Notes  217 


sion  is  peculiar,  if  not  corrupt.     Allow  =  approve  ;   as  in  Lear,  ii. 

4.  194:  — 

"  O  heavens, 

If  you  do  love  old  men,  if  your  sweet  sway 
Allow  obedience." 

Cf.  Psalms,  xi.  6  (Prayer-Book  version)  :  "The  Lord  alloweth  the 
r   ^\.eous." 
,,.  ,i.    Must  strive.     Must  endeavour  to  bear. 

7.  None  else,  etc.  "  No  one  living  for  me  except  you,  nor  I 
alive  to  any,  who  can  change  my  feelings  fixed  as  steel  either  for 
good  or  ill  —  either  to  pleasure  or  pain  "  (Dowden).  Malone  con- 
jectures "e'er  changes,"  and  Knight  "so  changes."  Dyce  prints 
"sense',"  both  here  and  in  10  below.  In  the  latter  case  it  is  quite 
certainly  the  contracted  plural  (see  on  91.  4  above),  and  perhaps 
here  also. 

8.  Right  or  wrong.  "  Either  to  what  is  right  or  to  what  is 
wrong"  (Steevens). 

9.  Abysm.  Printed  "  Abisme"  in  the  quarto.  See  on  20.  7 
above. 

10.  Adders  sense.  For  other  allusions  to  the  proverbial  deafness 
of  the  adder,  see  2  Hen.   VI.  iii.  2.  76  and   7'.  and  C.  ii.  2.  172. 

11.  Critic.  Carper;  the  only  meaning  in  S.  Cf.  L.  L.  L.  iii.  1. 
178  and   T.  and  C.  v.  2.  131 ;    the  only  other  instances  in  his  works. 

12.  With  .  .  .  dispense.     Excuse.     Cf.  C.  of  E.  ii.  I.  103,  etc. 

13.  So  strongly,  etc.  "So  kept  and  harbour'd  in  my  thoughts"' 
(Schmidt). 

14.  Are  dead.  The  quarto  has  "y'are;  "  corrected  by  Malone 
(1780).     Dyce  and  Dowden  read  "they're." 

CXIII 

This  sonnet  resumes  the  idea  that  the  image  of  his  friend  11 
found  in  everything,  even  what  is  deformed  and  monstrous. 

1.    My  eye  is  in  my  mind.     <  f.  47.  7,  8. 


2 1 8  Notes 

3.  Part  his  function.  Divide  its  function.  Hudson  makes  part 
=  "  depart  from,  forsake  ;  "  but  partly  confirms  the  other  explana- 
tion. 

6.  Latch.  Catch.  Cf.  Macb.  iv.  3.  195  :  "  Where  hearing  should 
not  latch  them,"  etc.    The  quarto  has  "  lack  ;  "  corrected  by  Malone. 

7.  Quick.  Quickly  appearing  or  passing  ;  or  "  perceived  as  the 
eye  quickly  moves "  (Tyler).  ce 

10.  Favour.  Countenance,  aspect.  Cf.  125.  5  below.  See  a,.  . 
Proverbs,  xxxi.  30. 

14.  Makes  mine  eye  untrue.  The  quarto  reads  "maketh  mine 
untrue,"  which  Malone  explains  thus :  "  The  sincerity  of  my  affec- 
tion is  the  cause  of  my  untruth,  that  is,  my  not  seeing  objects  truly, 
such  as  they  appear  to  the  rest  of  mankind  "  ;  and  White  as  fol- 
lows: "maketh  the  semblance,  the  fictitious  (and  so  the  false  or 
untrue)  object  which  is  constantly  before  me."  On  the  whole,  I 
prefer  the  reading  in  the  text,  which  occurred  independently  to 
Capell  and  Malone.  Collier  suggests  "  maketh  my  eyne  untrue," 
and  Lettsom  "  mak'th  mine  eye  untrue." 

CXIV 

"Continues  the  subject  treated  in  113,  and  inquires  why  and 
how  it  is  that  his  eye  gives  a  false  report  of  objects"  (Dowden). 

4.  Alchemy.  Printed  "  Alcumie"  in  the  quarto.  See  on  20.  7 
above.  For  the  allusion  to  alchemy,  cf.  ^2-  4-  S.  uses  the  word 
only  in  these  passages  and  in  J.  C.  i.  3.  159.  Alchemist  occurs  in 
K.John,  iii.  1.  78  and   T.  of  A.  v.  1.  117. 

5.  Indigest.  Chaotic,  formless.  Cf.  2  Hen.  VI.  v.  I.  157:  "foul 
indigested  lump;"  and  3  Hen.  VI.  v.  6.  51:  "an  indigested  and 
deformed  lump."     These  are  the  only  instances  of  the  words  in  S. 

6.  Cherubins.  The  only  form  of  the  plural  in  S.,  as  cherubin  is 
the  only  singular,  except  in  Ham.  iv.  3.  50,  where  cherub  occurs. 

9.    ' 'T 'is  flattery  in  my  seeing.     Dowden  quotes  T.  A",  i.  5.  238:  — 
"  !  do  I  know  not  what,  and  fear  to  find 
Mine  eye  too  great  a  flatterer  for  my  mind." 


Notes  219 


II.  What  with  his  gust  is  greeing.  What  suits  its  (the  eye's) 
taste.  The  quarto  has  greeing,  not  "  'greeing,"  as  commonly  printed. 
Gree  is  found  in  prose  ;  as  in  M.  of  V.  ii.  2.  108,  etc.  For  gust,  cf. 
T.  X.  i.  3.  33  :  "  the  gust  he  hath  in  quarrelling,"  etc. 

13,  14.  As  Steevens  remarks,  the  allusion  is  here  to  the  tasters 
to  princes,  whose  office  it  was  to  taste  and  declare  the  good  quality 
of  dishes  and  liquors  served  up.  Cf.  K.  John,  v.  6.  28:  "Who 
did  taste  to  him  ?  " 

CXV 

The  poet  declares  that  he  was  wrong  when  he  said  that  his  love 
could  nut  be  greater.     It  grows  stronger  and  stronger. 

8.  Divert  strong  minds,  etc.  Tyler  compares  Ham.  iii.  2.  210 
fol. 

11.  Certain  o'er  incertainty,  etc.     Cf.  107.  7  above. 

13.    Might  I  not  say  so.     I  ought  not  to  have  said  so. 

CXVI 

This  fine  sonnet  may  or  may  not  belong  in  the  group  addressed 
to  Mr.  W.  II.  —  probably  not. 

2.  Impediments.  Alluding  to  the  Marriage  Service:  "If  either 
of  you  know  any  impediment,"  etc. 

Love  is  not  love,  etc.      Steevens  quotes  Lear,  i.  I.  241  :  — 

"  Love  's  not  love 
When  it  is  mingled  with  regards  that  stand 
Aloof  from  the  entire  point." 

3.  Alteration.     That  is,  in  the  loved  one. 

4.  Or  bends,  etc.      Or  changes  with  absence. 

5.  An  ever-fixed  mark,  etc.  Malone  cites  Cor.  v.  3-  74:  "Like 
a  great  sea-mark  standing  every  Haw."  See  also  Oth.  v.  2.  20S  : 
"  And  very  sea-mark   of  my  utmost   sail." 

8.  IVhose  -worth  's  unknown,  etc.  Apparently,  whose  stellar 
influence  is  unknown,  although  its  angular  altitude  has  been  de- 


220  Notes 

termined  (Palgrave)  ;  an  astrological  allusion.  Dowden  remarks : 
"  The  passage  seems  to  mean,  As  the  star,  over  and  above  what 
can  be  ascertained  concerning  it  for  our  guidance  at  sea,  has  un- 
knowable occult  virtue  and  influence,  so  love,  beside  its  power  of 
guiding  us,  has  incalculable  potencies.  This  interpretation  is  con- 
firmed by  the  next  sonnet  (117)  in  which  the  simile  of  sailing  at 
sea  is  introduced  ;  Shakspere  there  confesses  his  wanderings,  and 
adds  as  his  apology  — 

'  I  did  strive  to  prove 
The  constancy  and  virtue  of  your  love '  — 

constancy,  the  guiding  fixedness  of  love;  virtue,  the  'unknown 
worth.'  Walker  proposed  '  whose  north  's  unknown,'  explaining 
'  As,  by  following  the  guidance  of  the  northern  star,  a  ship  may 
sail  an  immense  way,  yet  never  reach  the  true  north  ;  so  the  limit 
of  love  is  unknown.  Or  can  any  other  good  sense  be  made  of 
"  north  "  ?  Judicent  ret  astronomic^  fleriti.'  Dr.  Ingleby  (  The 
Soule  Arayed,  1872,  pp.  5,  6,  note),  after  quoting  in  connection 
with  this  passage  the  lines  in  which  Caesar  speaks  of  himself  (_/.  C. 
iii.  1)  as  'constant  as  the  northern  star,'  writes:  'Here  human 
virtue  is  figured  under  the  "  true-fix'd  and  resting  quality  "  of  the 
northern  star.  Surely,  then,  the  worth  spoken  of  must  be  con- 
stancy or  fixedness.  The  sailor  must  know  that  the  star  has  this 
worth,  or  his  latitude  would  not  depend  on  its  altitude.  Just  so 
without  the  knowledge  of  this  worth  in  love,  a  man  "  hoists  sail  to 
all  the  winds,"  and  is  "frequent  with  unknown  minds."'  Height, 
it  should  be  observed,  was  used  by  Elizabethan  writers  in  the  sense 
of  value,  and  the  word  may  be  used  here  in  a  double  sense,  altitude 
(of  the  star)  and  value  (of  love) ;  love  whose  worth  is  unknown, 
however  it  may  be  valued."  Herford  explains  worth  as  =  "  occult 
virtue  and  influence,  discoverable  only  by  observation  and  calcula- 
tion." 

9.  Time's  fool.  The  sport  or  mockery  of  Time.  Cf.  1  Hen.  IV, 
v.  4.  81  :   "  But  thought  's  the  slave  of  life,  and  life  time's  fool." 

II.    His  brief  hours.     Referring  to  Time. 


Notes  in 

12.  The  edge  of  doom.  The  day  of  doom;  as  in  55.  12.  Ct. 
A.  IV.  iii.  3.  5  :  — 

"  We  '11  strive  to  bear  it  for  your  worthy  sake 
To  the  extreme  edge  of  hazard." 

CXVII 

\r    All.     All  masters  or  relations. 

5.  Frequent.  Intimate.  In  the  only  other  instance  of  the  word 
in  S.  (  IV.  T.  iv.  2.  36)  it  is  =  addicted.  Unknown  minds  =  per- 
sons of  little  note,  or  obscure. 

6.  To  time.  To  the  world,  or  society.  Cf.  70.  6  above.  Dowden 
suggests  that  the  meaning  may  be,  "  given  away  to  temporary  occa- 
sion what  is  your  property  and  therefore  an  heirloom  for  eternity." 
Staunton  proposes  "them"  for  time,  and  Tyler  is  inclined  to  agree 
with  him. 

10.  And  on  just  proof,  etc.  Add  conjecture  or  suspicion,  if  you 
will. 

11.  Level.  Aim;  a  technical  use  of  the  word  in  gunnery.  Cf. 
the  verb  in  121.  9  below. 

CXVIII 

Apparently  a  continuation  of  117. 

1.  Like  as.     See  on  60.  1  above. 

2.  Eager.  Tart,  piquant  (Fr.  aigre)  ;  as  in  Ham.  i.  5.  69: 
"  eager  droppings  into  milk." 

4.  Purge.  Take  a  cathartic.  Cf.  I  LLen.  LV.  v.  4.  168:  "I'll 
purge,  and  leave  sack." 

5.  Ne'  er-rloying.  The  quarto  has  "  nere  cloying,"  and  the  ed. 
of  1640  "  neare  cloying;  "  corrected  by  Malone  (the  conjecture  of 
Theobald). 

6.  Frame.     Adapt,  suit.     Cf.  3  Hen.  IV.  iii.  2.  185. 

7.  Meetness.      Fitness,  propriety  ;    used  by  S.  only  here. 

12.  Rank.  "Sick  (of  hypertrophy),"  as  Schmidt  defines  it.  Cfc 
2  lltn.  IV.  iv.  1 .  64  :    "To  diet  rank  minds  sick  of  happiness." 


oo.i  Notes 


CXIX 

This  is  a  continuation  of  118. 

1.  Siren  tears.     The  wily  tears  of  seductive  women. 

2.  Limbecks.  Alembics.  The  word  occurs  again  in  Macb.  i.  7. 
67.  On  foul  as  hell,  cf.  the  references  to  the  "dark  lady"  in  131. 
13  and  147.  14  below. 

3.  Applying  fears  to  hopes.  "  Setting  fears  against  hopes " 
(  Palgrave) . 

4.  Still  losing,  etc.  "  Either,  losing  in  the  very  moment  of  vic- 
tory, or  gaining  victories  (of  other  loves  than  those  of  his  friend) 
which  were  indeed  but  losses"  (Dowden). 

7.  flitted.  The  word  must  be  from  the  noun  fit,  and  =  started 
by  the  paroxysms  ox  fits  of  his  fever.  Lettsom  would  read  "  flitted," 
which  surely  would  be  no  improvement. 

II.  Ruin 'd  love,  etc.  "Note  the  introduction  of  the  metaphor 
of  rebuilt  love,  reappearing  in  later  sonnets"  (Dowden).  Cf.  C. 
of  E.  iii.   2.  4,  A.  and  C.  iii.  2.  29,  T.  and    C.  iv.   2.   109,  etc. 

13.  To  my  content.  To  my  true  happiness.  Content  is  often 
used  by  S.  in  a  much  stronger  sense  than  now.  Tyler  explains  the 
passage  thus  :  "  with  a  feeling  of  contentment  and  satisfaction." 

14.  ///.     The  quarto  has  "ills  ;  "  corrected  by  Malone. 

.   cxx 

Further  allusions  to  the  poet's  "wretched  errors"  (119.  5);  but 
what  these  were  we  do  not  know.  They  appear  to  have  no  con- 
nection with  the  "  dark  lady." 

3.  "  I  must  needs  be  overwhelmed  by  the  wrong  I  have  done  to 
you,  knowing  how  I  myself  suffered  when  you  were  the  offender  " 
(Dowden). 

6.    A  hell  of  time.     Malone  quotes  Oth.  iii.  3.  169:  — 

"  But  O,  what  damned  minutes  tells  he  o'er 
Who  dotes  yet  doubts,  suspects  yet  strongly  loves  ;  " 


Notes  223 


and  R.  of  L.  1286:  — 

"  And  that  deep  torture  may  be  call'd  a  hell, 
When  more  is  felt  than  one  hath  power  to  tell." 

9.  Our.  Staunton  conjectures  "  sour."  Night  of  woe  is  prob- 
ably metaphorical  (that  dark  and  woful  time),  not  a  reference  to 
some  particular  night,  as  Tyler  thinks  "  possible." 

Remember* 'd.  Reminded  ;  as  in  Temp.  i.  2.  243 :  "  Let  mc  re- 
member thee  what  thou  hast  promis'd,"  etc. 

12.    Salve.     Apology.     Cf.  34.  7  above. 

CXXI 

The  poet  declares  that,  though  he  "  does  not  claim  to  be  blame- 
less, he  was  traduced  by  persons  worse  than  himself,  who  were 
therefore  unfit  to  criticise  and  censure  his  conduct  "  (Tyler). 
"  Dr.  Burgersdijk  regards  this  sonnet  as  a  defence  of  the  stage 
against  the  Puritans"  (Dowden),  which  seems  to  me  absurd. 

2.  When  not  to  be,  tic.  When  one  is  unjustly  reproached  with 
being  so  (that  is,  vile). 

3,4.  And  the  just  pleasure,  tic.  "And  the  legitimate  pleasure 
lost,  which  is  deemed  vile,  not  by  us  who  experience  it,  but  by 
others  who  look  on   and  condemn"    (Dowden). 

5.  Adulterate.  Lewd;  as  in  Rich.  III.  iv.  4.  79  and  Z.  C.  175. 
It  is  =  adulterous  in  A',  of  I.  1 645,  Ham.  i.  5.  42,  etc. 

6.  Give  salutation,  etc.  "  Take  account  of  and  criticise  what 
my  somewhat  warm  nature  may  do  in  gay  or  unrestrained  mo- 
ments" (Tyler).  Herford  explains  give  salutation  to  as  "affect, 
stir."     Cf.  Hen.  VIII.  ii.  3.  103  :  — 

"  Would  I  had  no  being, 
If  this  salute  my  blood  a  jot !  " 

Sportive  —  amorous,   wanton;    as   in  Rich.  III.   i.    I.    14:  "Shap'd 
for  sportive  tricks."      Cf.  sport  in  y<>.  2  above. 

S.    In  thAr  wills.     "According  to  their  pleasure"  (Dowden). 

9.    level.     Take  aim  at.      See  on   117.  II  above. 


224  Notes 

11.  Bevel.  Slanting;  figuratively  opposed  to  straight,  01  "up- 
right."    The  word  is  used  by  S.  only  line. 

12.  Rank.  Foul,  gross.  Cf.  69.  12  above.  See  also  Z.  C.  307: 
"To  blush  at  speeches  rank." 

CXXII 

Tti?  is  evidently  an  apology  for  having  parted  with  tables  (memo- 
randum-book), the  gift  of  his  friend,  who  seems  to  have  heard  what 
the  poet  had  done.  Cf.  Sonn.  77,  where  a  similar  present  to  his 
friend  is  mentioned. 

I.  Tables.  Cf.  Ham.  i.  5.  107:  "My  tables  —  meet  it  is  I  set  it 
down,"  etc.  See  also  Id.  i.  5.  98:  "Yea,  from  the  table  of  my 
memory,"  etc.  ;   id.  i.  3.  58  :  — 

"  And  these  few  precepts  in  thy  memory 
Look  thou  character;  " 

and  T.  G.  of  V.  ii.  7.  3  :  — 

"  Who  art  the  table  wherein  all  my  thoughts 
Are  visibly  character'd  and  engrav'd." 

3.  That  idle  rank.  "  That  poor  dignity  (of  tables  written  upon 
with  pen  or  pencil)  "  (Dowden). 

9.  That  poor  retention.  "  The  table-book  given  to  him  by  his 
friend,  incapable  of  retaining,  or  rather  of  containing,  so  much  as 
the  tablet  of  the  brain  "  (Malone). 

10.  Tallies.  Notched  sticks  used  to  "keep  tally,"  as  schoolboys 
still  say.  Cf.  2  Hen.  VI.  iv.  7.  39  :  "  our  forefathers  had  no  other 
books  but  the  score  and  the  tally,"  etc. 

CXXIII 

"In  this  sonnet,  which  is  probably  to  be  connected  with  the  one 
before  h,  the  poet  reverts  to  the  doctrine  which  had  appeared  pre- 
viously in  69,  that  there  is  nothing  new,  but  that  all  things  occur 
in  unending  succession  "  (Tyler).    "  He  now  declares  that  the  reg- 


Notes  225 


isters  and  records  of  Time  are  false,  but  Time  shall  impose  no  cheat 
upon  his  nvmory  or  heart"  (Dowden). 

2.  Thy  pyramids.  "I  think  this  is  metaphorical ;  all  that  Time 
piles  up  from  day  to  day,  all  his  new  stupendous  erections  are  really 
but  '  dressings  of  a  former  sight.'  Is  there  a  reference  to  the  new 
love,  the  'ruined  love  built  anew'  (119.  11)  between  the  two 
friends  ?  The  same  metaphor  appears  in  the  next  sonnet :  '  No,  it 
[his  love]  was  builded  far  from  accident ;'  and  again  in  125  :  '  Laid 
great  bases  for  eternity,'  etc.  Does  Shakspere  mean  here  that  this 
new  love  is  really  the  same  with  the  old  love  ;  he  will  recognize  the 
identity  of  new  and  old,  and  not  wonder  at  either  the  past  or  pres- 
ent?" (Dowden).  Herford  makes  thy  pyramids  =  "  all  that  Time 
piles  up  from  day  to  day  ;  new  structures  of  event."  Dressings  = 
trimming  up,  ornamental  repetitions. 

5.  Admire.  Wonder  at  ;  as  in  T.  N.  iii.  4.  165  :  "  Wonder  not, 
nor  admire  not,"  etc. 

7.  And  rather  make  them,  etc.  Them  refers  to  the  things  im- 
plied in  what —  things  that  we  choose  to  regard  as  new,  though 
really  old. 

1 1.  Records.  S.  accents  the  noun  on  either  syllable,  as  may  suit 
the  measure.     Cf.  55.  8  above. 

CXXIV 

Apparently  a  continuation  of  123. 
I.    State.      Rank,  power. 

3.  As  subject  to    Time's  love,  etc.     That  fa,  as  being  "Time's 

fool"  (116.  9). 

4.  Weeds,  etc.  Regarded  as  weeds  or  flowers,  according  to 
Time's  caprice. 

5.  Builded.  The  participle  is  oftener  built;  as  in  1 19.  11  and 
I2j.  2  above. 

7,  S.  "  When  time  puts  us,  who  have  been  in  favour,  out  of 
fashion  "  ('Dowden). 

SHAKEbl'hlAKE'S    SONNETS —  I5 


226  Notes 

9.  Policy,  that  heretic.  Seeking  its  own  interest,  and  false  to 
love,  which  is  unselfish.  Dowden  compares  R.  and  J.  i.  2.  95 
(Romeo  speaking  of  eyes  unfaithful  to  the  beloved)  :  "Transpar- 
ent heretics,  be  burnt  for  liars." 

11.  Hugely  politic.  "Love  itself  is  infinitely  prudent,  prudent 
for  eternity"  (Dowden).  Hudson  takes  the  phrase  to  be  =  "or- 
ganized or  knit  together  in  a  huge  polity  or  State ;  "  to  which  I 
can  only  add  his  own  comment  :  "  Rather  an  odd  use  of  politic,  to 
us." 

12.  That.  So  that  ;  as  in  76.  7  and  98.  4  above.  Steevens  con- 
jectures "glows"  for  grows,  and  Capell  "dries." 

13.  14.  To  this  I  witness,  etc.  Dowden  asks  :  "Does  this  mean, 
;I  call  to  witness  the  transitory  unworthy  loves  {fools  of  time  = 
sports  of  time  —  cf.  1 16.  9),  whose  death  was  a  virtue  since  their  life 
was  a  crime  ?' "  Steevens  thinks  that  fools  of  time,  etc.,  may  be  "  a 
stroke  at  some  of  Fox's  Martyrs  ;  "  and  Palgrave  says  :  "appar- 
ently, the  plotters  and  political  martyrs  of  the  time."  Hudson  sug- 
gests that  it  may  mean,  "  those  fools  who  make  as  if  they  would  die 
for  virtue  after  having  devoted  their  lives  to  vice."  Tyler  sees  an 
allusion  to  "  the  popular  repute  of  Essex  as  the  '  good  Earl,'  not- 
withstanding the  '  crimes '  for  which  he  and  certain  of  his  compan- 
ions were  executed."  The  reference  is  hopelessly  obscure,  and  I 
shall  add  no  attempt  to  explain  it. 

cxxv 

This  may  be  closely  connected  with  124,  as  Dowden  and  Tyler 
regard  it.  The  former  says  :  "  In  124  S.  asserted  that  his  love  was 
not  subject  to  time,  as  friendships  founded  on  self-interest  are  ; 
here  he  asserts  that  it  is  not  founded  on  beauty  of  person,  and 
therefore  cannot  pass  away  with  the  decay  of  such  beauty.  I.  is 
pure  love  for  love." 

1.  Bore  the  canopy.  That  is,  paid  outward  homage,  as  one  who 
bears  a  canopy  over  a  superior.     King  James  I.  made   his  progress 


Notes  227 

through  London,  1603-4,  under  a  canopy.  In  the  account  of  the 
King  and  Queen's  entertainment  at  Oxford,  1605,  we  read  (Nichol's 
Progresses  of A'ing J 'antes,  vol.  i.  p.  546,  quoted  by  Dowden)  :  "  From 
thence  was  carried  over  the  King  and  Queen  a  fair  canopy  of  crim- 
son taffety  by  six  of  the  Canons  of  the  Church." 

I  may  add  that  on  the  15th  of  March,  1604,  when  James  made  a 
formal  march  from  the  Tower  to  Westminster,  the  nine  actors  (in- 
cluding Shakespeare)  to  whom  he  had  granted  a  special  license  to 
perform  in  London  and  the  provinces,  were  in  the  royal  train.  Each 
actor  was  presented  with  four  and  a  half  yards  of  scarlet  cloth,  the 
usual  dress-allowance  to  players  belonging  to  the  household. 
Whether  the  actors  bore  the  canopy  on  this  occasion  I  find  no 
record  ;    but  I  doubt  whether  there  is  a  reference  to  it  here. 

2.  Extern.  Outward  show.  Cf.  Oth.  i.  I.  63  :  "compliment 
extern."  Elsewhere  S.  uses  external ;  as  in  53.  13  above.  On  the 
passage,  cf.  69.  1-5  above. 

3.  Or  laid,  etc.  "  The  love  of  the  earlier  sonnets,  which  cele- 
brated the  beauty  of  Shakspere's  friend,  was  to  last  forever,  and  yet 
it  has  been  ruined  "  (Dowden).  Tyler  thinks  it  refers  to  the  Dedi- 
cation of  R.  and  L.  and  perhaps  also  to  that  of  V.  and  A. 

5.  Dwellers  on  form,  etc.  "  Persons  admitted  only  to  external 
relations"  (Tyler).  Vox  favour  (outward  appearance),  see  on  113. 
IO  above. 

6.  Lose  all,  and  more.  "  Lose  not  only  affection,  but  incur  still 
further  mischiefs  "  (Tyler). 

8.  Pitiful  thrivers.     To  be  pitied  even  when  successful. 

9.  Obsequious.  Devoted,  zealous.  Cf.  M.  IV.  iv.  2.  2  :  "  I  see 
you  are  obsequious  in  your  love,"  etc.  Hudson  explains  it  as 
=  "mourned  or  lamented." 

II.  Afix'd  with  seconds.  Steevens  remarks  :  "  I  am  just  informed 
by  an  old  lady,  that  seconds  is  a  provincial  term  for  the  second  kind 
of  flour,  which  is  collected  after  the  smaller  bran  is  sifted.  That 
our  author's  oblation  was  pure,  unmixed  with  baser  matter,  is  all 
that  he  meant  to  say."     Seconds  is  still  used  (at  least  in  this  country) 


228  Notes 

in  the  sense  which  Steevens  mentions.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  is 
right  in  his  explanation  of  the  figure,  which  is  not  unlike  the  familiar 
one  of  the  wheat  and  the  chaff  (cf.  Hen.  VIII.  v.  I.  in,  Cymb.  i. 
6.  178,  etc.);  but  Knight  thinks  otherwise.  He  says,  after  quoting 
Steevens's  note,  "  Mr.  Dyce  called  this  note  '  preposterously  absurd.' 
Steevens,  however,  knew  what  he  was  doing.  He  mentions  the 
flour,  as  in  almost  every  other  note  upon  the  Sonnets,  to  throw  dis- 
credit upon  compositions  with  which  he  could  not  sympathize.  He 
had  a  sharp,  cunning,  pettifogging  mind  ;  and  he  knew  many  pro- 
saic things  well  enough.  He  knew  that  a  second  in  a  duel,  a  sec- 
onder in  a  debate,  a  secondary  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  meant  one 
next  to  the  principal.  The  poet's  friend  has  his  chief  oblation  ;  no 
seconds,  or  inferior  persons,  are  mixed  up  with  his  tribute  of  affection. 
"  In  the  copy  of  the  Sonnets  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  formerly 
belonging  to  Malone  (and  which  is  bound  in  the  same  volume  with 
the  Lucrece,  etc.),  is  a  very  cleverly  drawn  caricature  representing 
Shakspere  addressing  a  periwig-pated  old  fellow  in  these  lines  :  — 
'  If  thou  couldst,  Doctor,  cast 
The  water  of  my  Sonnets,  find  their  disease, 
Or  purge  my  Editor  till  he  understood  them, 
I  would  applaud  thee."  [Cf.  Afacb.  v.  3.  50  fol.] 
Under  this  Malone  has  written, '  Mr.  Steevens  borrowed  this  volume 
from  me  in  1779,  to  peruse  the  Rapt  of  lucrece,  in  the  original  edi- 
tion, of  which  he  was  not  possessed.  When  he  returned  it  he  made 
this  drawing.  I  was  then  confined  by  a  sore  throat,  and  attended 
by  Mr.  Atkinson,  the  apothecary,  of  whom  the  above  figure,  whom 
Shakspeare  addresses,  is  a  caricature.'  " 

For  the  figure  in  seconds  I  may  add  the  familiar  household  one  of 
bolted  (sifted,  like  flour),  which  S.  uses  of  persons  {Hen.  V.  ii,  2. 
137)  and  of  language  (Cor.  iii.  1.  322).  See  also  IV.  T.  iv.  4. 
375  and  T.  and  C.  i.  1.  18.  He  has  many  other  metaphors  equally 
•'vulgar,"  as  Blair  and  certain  other  rhetoricians,  trained  in  the 
school  of  Pope,  call  them.  For  an  example  in  the  Sonnets,  take 
that  of  the  wuman  chasing  a  stray  hen,  in  143, 


Notes  229 


12.  Mutual  render.  "Give-and-take.  This  sonnet  appears 
directed  against  some  one  who  had  charged  him  with  superficial 
love  "  (Palgrave). 

13.  Suborn 'd  informer  !  Dowden  asks  :  "  Does  this  refer  to  an 
actual  person,  one  of  the  spies  of  121.  7,  8  ?  or  is  the  informer 
Jealousy,  or  Suspicion,  as  in  V.  and  A.  655  ?"  As  Tyler  suggests, 
it  may  refer  to  "  the  person  or  persons  who  had  brought  charges 
against  the  poet." 

CXXVI 

"This  is  the  concluding  poem  of  the  series  addressed  to  Shaks- 
pere's  friend  ;  it  consists  of  six  rhymed  couplets.  In  the  quarto 
parentheses  follow  the  twelfth  line  thus  :  — 

C  ) 

(  ) 

as  if  to  show  that  two  lines  are  wanting.  But  there  is  no  good  rea- 
son for  supposing  that  the  poem  is  defective.  In  William  Smith's 
Chloris,  1596,  a  '  sonnet '  (No.  27)  of  this  six-couplet  form  appears  " 
(Dowden).  See  also  on  p.  13  above.  Herford  remarks  :  "This 
poem  of  twelve  lines  concludes  the  first  sequence.  It  may  origi- 
nally have  concluded  the  series  which  ends  at  99,  forming  a  '  cen- 
tury ;  '  "  but  this  seems  to  me  improbable,  as  it  is  doubtful  whether 
99  belongs  in  the  series. 

2.  J'ickle  hour.  The  quarto  reads  "  sickle,  hower,"  and  Lin- 
tott  "  fickle  hower."  The  old  text  has  not  been  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained. White  (if  his  note  is  meant  to  be  taken  seriously)  regards 
the  line  as  "  a  most  remarkable  instance  of  inversion  for  '  Dost  hold 
Time's  fickle  hour-glass,  his  sickle.'  "  Walker  conjectures  "  sickle- 
hour,"  the  hour  being,  as  he  thinks,  "  represented  poetically  as  a 
sickle;  "  which  Hudson  adopts,  adding  that  the  figure  is  used  "for 
the  same  reason  that  Time  is  elsewhere  pictured  as  being  armed 
with  a  scythe.-'  I  assume  that  "sickle"  was  a  misprint  {ox  fickle 
(an  easy  slip  of  the  type  when  the  long  s  was  in  vogue),  and  that 
the  meaning  is  "  during  its  fickle  hour."    The  boy  simply  held  Time's 


230  Notes 

fickle  glass  while  it  ran  its  fickle  hourly  course.  The  repetition  of 
fickle  is  in  Shakespeare's  manner.  Dost  hold  =  dost  hold  in  hand, 
in  check,  in  thy  poiver ;  and  fickle  hour  =  Time's  course  that  is 
subject  to  mutation  and  vicissitude.  This  seems  to  me  the  best  that 
can  be  done  for  this  puzzling  passage.  For  his  =  its,  cf.  9.  10,  14. 
6,  74.  7,  and  84.  6  above. 

5.  Wrack.  For  the  rhyme,  cf.  V.  and  A.  558,  R.  of  L.  841, 
965,  and  Macb.  v.  5.  51.     See  also  on  65.  6  above. 

9.  Minion.  Darling,  favourite.  Cf.  Temp.  iv.  1.  98,  Macb.  i.  2. 
19,  etc. 

12.  Quietus.  "This  is  the  technical  term  for  the  acquittance 
which  every  sheriff  receives  on  settling  his  accounts  at  the  Ex- 
chequer. Compare  Webster,  Duchess  of  Malfi,  i.  1  :  '  And  'cause 
you  shall  not  come  to  me  in  debt,  Being  now  my  steward,  here  upon 
your  lips  I  sign  your  Quietus  est'  "  (Steevens).  S.  uses  the  word 
again  in  Ham.  iii.  I.  75. 

To  render  thee.  "To  yield  thee  up,  surrender  thee.  When 
Nature  is  called  to  a  reckoning  (by  Time  ?)  she  obtains  her  acquit- 
tance upon  surrendering  thee,  her  chief  treasure"  (Dowden). 

CXXVII 

"The  sonnets  addressed  to  his  lady  begin  here.  Steevens  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  '  almost  all  that  is  said  here  on  the  subject 
of  complexion  is  repeated  in  L.  L.  L.  iv.  3.  250-258  :  "O,  who 
can  give  an  oath  ?  "  etc' 

"  Herr  Krauss  points  out  several  resemblances  between  Sonn. 
126-152  and  the  Fifth  Song  of  Sidney's  Astrophel  and  Stella  (that 
beginning  '  While  favour  fed  my  hope,  delight  with  hope  was 
brought'),  in  which  may  be  felt  'the  ground  tone  of  the  whole 
series'  of  later  sonnets"  (Dowden). 

Swinburne  {Fortnightly  Rev.  Dec.  1,  1880)  refers  to  Sonnets 
127-154  as  "incomparably  the  most  important  and  altogether 
precious  division  of  the   Sonnets." 


Notes  23 1 


I.  In  the  old  age  black  was  not  counted  fair.  White  remarks  : 
"This  is  an  allusion  to  the  remarkable  fact  that  during  the  chiv- 
alric  ages  brunettes  were  not  acknowledged  as  beauties  anywhere 
in  Christendom.  In  all  the  old  contes  fabliaux,  and  romances  that 
I  am  acquainted  with,  the  heroines  are  blondes.  And  more,  the 
possession  of  dark  eyes  and  hair,  and  the  complexion  that  accom- 
panies them,  is  referred  to  by  the  troubadours  as  a  misfortune." 

3.  Successive.  By  order  of  succession  ;  as  in  2  Hen.  VI.  iii.  I. 
49  :   "As  next  the  king  he  was  successive  heir." 

7.    Bcnver.     Habitation.     Malone  reads  "  hour." 

9.  My  mistress'  broivs.  The  quarto  has  "  eyes  "  for  brows  (eye- 
brows), which  is  due  to  the  Cambridge  editors.  Walker  conjec- 
tures "hairs."    Cf.    W.    7'.  ii.   1.  8  :  — 

"  Your  brows  are  blacker  ;  yet  black  brows,  they  say, 
Become  some  women  best,"  etc. 

10.  Suited.  Clad  ;  as  in  M.  of  V.  i.  2.  79,  A.  IV.  i.  I.  170,  etc. 
For  and  they  Dyce  reads  "as  they." 

12.  Slandering  creation,  etc.  "Dishonouring  nature  with  a 
spurious  reputation,  a  fame  gained  by  dishonest  means"  (Dowden). 

13.  Becoming  of.  Cracing.  This  use  of  of  with  verbals  is  not 
uncommon  in  S. 

CXXVIII 

I.    Afy  music.     Cf.  8.  1  above. 

5.  En-y.  Accented  on  the  second  syllable;  as  in  T.  of  S.  ii.  1. 
18:  "  Is  it  for  him  you  do  envy  me  so  ?"  Malone  compares  Mar- 
lowe, Edw.  IF.  :  "If  for  the  dignities  thou  be  envy'd  ;  "  and  Sir 
John  Davies,  Epigrams:  "Why  doth  not  Ponticus  their  fame 
envy?"  If  it  were  not  for  these  and  other  similar  instances,  we 
might  give  envy  what  is  called  the  "  hovering  accent." 

Jacks.  Here  used  loosely  (as  probably  in  common  speech)  for 
the  keys  of  the  virginal  upon  which  the  lady  is  playing.  It  properly 
means  the  upright  hinder  part  of  the  key  which  strikes  the  string. 


232 


Notes 


rising  as  the  key  is  pressed  down.  The  virginal  was  an  instrument 
which  has  been  termed  "  the  ancestor  of  the  piano,"  and  was  so 
called  because  used  by  young  girls.  It  was  sometimes  called  a 
pair  of  virginals;  as  in  Dekker's  Gul's  Hornbooke :  "leap  up 
and  down  like  the  nimble  jacks  of  a  pair  of  virginals."      See  also 


Virginal  (from  an  old  Engraving) 

Harper's  Mag.  vol.  lviii.  p.  857,  or  Elson's  Shakespeare  and  Music. 
The  noun  is  not  used  by  S.,  but  virginalling  occurs  in  W,  7'. 
i.  2.  125.     Steevens  quotes  Ram  Alley,  1611  :  — 

"  Where  be  these  rascals  that  skip  up  and  down 
Like  virginal  jacks  ?  " 

II.  Thy.  The  quarto  has  "their,"  as  in  14;  corrected  by 
Gildon. 

CXXIX 

Archbishop  Trench  (Household  Book  of  linglish  Poetry,  1868) 
says  of  this  sonnet:  "The  subject  —  the  bitter  delusion  of  all 
sinful  pleasures,  the  reaction  of  a  swift  remorse  which  inevitably 


Notes  233 

dogs  them  —  Shakspere  must  have  most  deeply  felt,  as  he  has 
expressed  himself  upon  it  most  profoundly.  I  know  no  picture  of 
this  at  all  so  terrible  in  its  truth  as,  in  The  Rape  of  Lucrece 
[687  fol.],  the  description  of  Tarquin  after  he  has  successfully 
wrought  his  deed  of  shame.  But  this  sonnet  on  the  same  theme 
is  worthy  to  stand  by  its  side."     Cf.  also  V.  and  A.  799  fol. 

1.  Expense.     Expenditure.     Cf.  94.  6  above. 

2.  Lust.     The  subject  of  the  sentence. 

9.  Mad.     The  quarto  has  "  Made  ;  "  corrected  by  Gildon. 

10.  Had,  having,  etc.  For  the  grammar,  cf.  T.  and  C.  ii.  2. 
263  and  Ham.  i.  2.  158. 

11.  Prov'd,  a  very  woe.  The  quarto  reads  "proud  and  very 
wo  ;  "  corrected  by  Sewell  and  Malone. 

12.  A  dream.     Cf.  R.  of  L.  212. 

cxxx 

A  playful  criticism  of  the  extravagance  of  poets  in  praising  their 
mistresses.     Cf.  Sonn.  21. 

4.  If  hairs  be  wires.     Cf.  K.  fohn,  iii.  4.  64  :  — 

"  O,  what  love  I  note 
In  the  fair  multitude  of  those  her  hairs  ! 
Where  but  by  chance  a  silver  drop  hath  fallen, 
Even  to  that  drop  ten  thousand  wiry  friends 
Do  glue  themselves,"  etc. 

The  strange  comparison  is  found  in  Spenser,  Marlowe,  Peele,  and 
other  writers  of  the  time. 

5.  Damask 'd.  Variegated.  Cf.  A.  Y.  L.  iii.  5.  123:  "Betwixt 
the  constant  red  and  mingled  damask." 

S.  A'et-ks.  Properly  =  emits  vapour,  steams  ;  but  here  probably 
used  for  the  sake  of  the  rhyme.  ( 'f.  V.  and  A.  555  :  "Her  face 
doth  reek  and  smoke"  (from  heat  and  excitement)  ;  /..  L.  L.  iv 
3.  14(1:  "Saw  sighs  reek  from  you;"/.  C.  iii.  I.  158:  "Your 
purpled  hands  do  reek  and  smoke,"  etc. 


234  Notes 

14.  Any  she.  Cf.  Hen.  V.  ii.  1.  83  :  "the  only  she,"  etc.  For 
compare,  see  on  21.  5  above. 

CXXXI 

6.  Groan.  Cf.  133.  1  below.  See  also  V.  and  A.  785  :  "No, 
lady,  no  ;   my  heart  longs  not  to  groan,"  etc. 

11.  On  another's  neck.  In  close  succession.  Cf.  I  Hen.  IV.  iv. 
3-  92  :  — 

"  Soon  after  that,  depriv'd  him  of  his  life, 
And,  in  the  neck  of  that,  task'd  the  whole  state." 

13.  Save  in  thy  deeds.     Cf.  144.  4  and  147.  14. 

14.  This  slander.  That  her  face  has  not  the  power  to  make 
love  groan. 

CXXXII 

Though  the  lady's  eyes  are  black,  they  are  fascinating.  Cf. 
Sonn.  127. 

2.  Knowing  thy  heart  torments.  The  quarto  has  "  torment " 
for  torments,  and  Malone  reads  "  Knowing  thy  heart,  torment,"  etc. 
The  text  is  that  of  the  ed.  of  1640. 

4.    Ruth.     Pity.     Cf.  Rich.  II.  iii.  4.  106,  T.  and  C.  v.  3.  48,  etc. 

6.  Grey  cheeks,  etc.  Cf.  2  Hen.  IV.  ii.  3.  19  :  "The  grey  vault 
of  heaven." 

9.  Mourning.  The  quarto  has  "  morning,"  and  possibly,  as 
Dowden  suggests,  a  play  was  intended  on  morning  sun  and 
mourning  face. 

12.  Suit  thy  pity  like.  That  is,  clothe  it  similarly,  let  it  appear 
the  same. 

14.  And  all  they  foul,  etc.  Cf.  I.  I.  I.  iv.  3.  252  :  "No  face  is 
fair  that  is  not  full  so  black." 

CXXXIII 

"  Here  Shakspere's  heart  'groans  '  (see  131)  for  the  suffering  of 
his  friend  as  well  as  his  own  "  (Dowden). 


Notes  235 

I.  Beshrew.  A  mild  imprecation.  Cf.  M.  of  V.  ii.  6.  52,  iii.  2. 
14,  M.  N.  D.  v.  1.  295,  etc. 

6.  My  next  self.     My  dearest  friend. 

II.  Keeps.     That  is,  guards. 

CXXXIV 

A  continuation  of  133. 

5.    Wilt  not.     That  is,  wilt  not  restore  him. 

7.  Write  for  me.  Subscribe  for  me ;  that  is,  in  the  bond  as 
surety. 

9.  Statute.  "  Statute  has  here  its  legal  signification,  that  of  a 
security  or  obligation  for  money"  (Malone).  Cf.  Ham.  v.  I.  1 13  : 
"  his  statutes,  his  recognizances,"  etc. 

10.  Use.     Interest  ;    as  in  6.  5  above. 

11.  Came.     That  is,  who  became. 

12.  Unkind  abuse.     "  In  exposing  him  to  the  danger"  (Tyler). 

cxxxv 

I.  Will.  "In  this  sonnet,  in  the  next,  and  in  143  the  quarto 
marks  by  italics  and  capital  W  the  play  on  words,  Will  =  William 
[Shakspere],  Will  =  William,  the  Christian  name  of  Shakspere's 
friend  [?  Mr.  W.  II. j,  and  Will  =  desire,  volition.  Here  '  Will 
in  overplus '  means  Will  Shakspere,  as  the  next  line  shows,  '  more 
than  enough  am  I.'  The  first  '  Will '  means  desire  (but  as  we  know 
that  his  lady  had  a  husband,  it  is  possible  that  he  also  may  have 
been  a  '  Will,'  and  that  the  first  '  Will '  here  may  refer  to  him 
besides  meaning  '  desire  '  )  ;  the  second  '  Will '  is  Shakspere's 
friend"    (Dowden). 

Halliwell-Phillipps  remarks  that  in  the  time  of  S.  quibbles  of  this 
kind  were  common,  and  he  cites  as  an  example  the  riddle  on  the 
name  William  in  the  Book  of  Riddles  to  which  Slender  refers  in 
.)/.   W.  i.  1.  209  :  — 


236 


Notes 


"  The  li.  Riddle.  —  My  lovers  will 

I  am  content  for  to  fulfill  : 

Within  this  rime  his  name  is  framed; 

Tell  me  then  how  he  is  named  ? 

Solution.  —  His  name  is  William  ;  for  in  the  first  line  is  will,  and  in  the 
beginning  of  the  second  line  is  /  am,  and  then  put  them  both  together, 
and  it  maketh  William." 

This  was  a  very  popular  book  of  the  time,  mentioned  as  early 
as  1586.     The  edition  quoted  was  published  in  1629. 

Tyler  quotes  an  interesting  parallel  to  these  "  Will "  sonnets  in 
the  Dedication  by  John  Davies  to  his  Select  Second  Husband  for 
Sir  Thomas  Overbury's  Wife,  now  a  Matchless  Widow,  1606.  It 
is  specially  appropriate  as  being  addressed  to  "  William,  Earle  ot 
Pembroke  "  :  — 

"  Wit  and  my  Will  (deere  Lord)  were  late  at  strife, 
To  whom  this  Bridegroome  I  for  grace  might  send 
Who  Bride  was  erst  the  happiest  husband's  wife 
That  ere  was  haplesse  in  his  Friend,  and  End. 
Wit,  with  it  selfe,  and  with  my   Will,  did  warre, 
For  Will  {good-Will)  desir'd  it  might  be  YOU, 
But  Wit  found  fault  with  each  particular 
It  selfe  had  made  ;  sith  YOU  were  //  to  view,"  etc. 

Cf.  also  the  Epigram  addressed  to  Shakspere  by  Davies  :  — 

"Some  say,  good  Will  (which  I,  in  sport,  do  sing), 
Hadst  thou  not  plaid  some  kingly  parts  in  sport,"  etc. 

5.    Spacious.     A  trisyllable,  like  gracious  below. 
9.    The  sea,  etc.     Cf.  T.  N.  ii.  4.  103  :  — 

"  But  mine  is  all  as  hungry  as  the  sea, 
And  can  digest  as  much  ;  " 

and  Id.  i.  1.  11  :  — 

"  O  spirit  of  love  !  how  quick  and  fresh  art  thou, 
That,  notwithstanding  thy  capacity 
Receiveth  as  the  sea,"  etc. 


Notes  237 


13.  Let  no  unkind,  no  fair  beseechers  kill.  A  puzzling  line,  as  it 
stands.  Schmidt  is  doubtful  whether  unkind  is  a  substantive,  and, 
if  so,  whether  it  means  "  unnaturalness,"  or  "aversion  to  the  works 
of  love."  Palgrave  paraphrases  thus  :  "  Let  no  unkindness,  no 
fair-spoken  rivals  destroy  me."  Dowden  says  that  if  unkind  is  a 
substantive  it  must  mean  "  unkind  one  (that  is,  his  lady),"  as  in 
Daniel's  Delia,  2d  Sonnet  :  "And  tell  th'  Unkind  how  dearly  I 
have  lov'd  her."  He  adds  that  possibly  no  fair  may  mean  "  no 
fair  one  ;  "  but  suggests  that  perhaps  we  should  print  the  line 
thus  :  "  Let  no  unkind  '  Xo  '  fair  beseechers  kill  ;  "  that  is,  "  let  no 
unkind  refusal  kill  fair  beseechers."  This  strikes  me  as  a  very 
happy  solution  of  the  enigma,  and  I  have  been  strongly  tempted  to 
adopt  it  in  my  text.  Tyler  approves  it,  but  would  read  "your"  for 
"fair."  Herford  intended  to  adopt  it,  as  his  note  shows,  but 
accidentally  neglected  to  insert  it  in  his  text,  which  is  the  same  as 
mine. 

CXXXVI 

5.  Fulfil.      Fill  full.    Cf.   7\  and  C.  prol.  18  :   "fulfilling  bolts." 

6.  Ay, fill.  The  quarto  has  "  I  fill ; "  but  ay  was  usually  printed  "  I." 
Dowden  suggests  that  possibly  there  may  be  a  play  on  ay  and  /. 

7.  Receipt.  Capacity,  receptive  power  ;  the  only  instance  of  this 
sense  in  S. 

8.  One  is  reckoned  none.     See  on  8.  14  above. 

10.  Store's.  The  quarto  has  "stores;"  the  Cambridge  editors 
follow  Malone  in  reading  "stores'."  Schmidt  says  of  Store :  "used 
only  in  the  sing.  ;  therefore  in  Sonn.  136.  10,  store's  not  stores'." 
"  Lines  9,  10  mean  '  You  need  not  count  me  when  merely  counting 
the  number  of  those  who  hold  you  dear,  hut  when  estimating  the 
worth  of  your  possessions,  you  must  have  regard  to  me.'  'To  set 
store  by  a  thing  or  person  '  is  a  phrase  connected  with  the  meaning 
of 'store'  in  this  passage  "  (  i  lowden). 

12.  Something  sweet.  Walker  proposed  and  Dyce  reads  "some- 
thing, sweet." 


238  Notes 

13,  14.  "  Love  only  my  name  (something  less  than  loving  my- 
self), and  then  thou  lovest  me,  for  my  name  is  Will,  and  I  myself 
am  all  will,  that  is,  all  desire"  (Dowden).  Tyler  paraphrases  it 
thus  :  "  You  love  your  other  admirer  named  Will.  Love  the  name 
alone,  and  then  you  love  me,  for  my  name  is  Will." 


CXXXVII 

4.    Yet  what  the  best  is,  etc.      "They  take  a  face  which,  from 
deficiency  of  beauty,  is  worst  to  be  best,  most  beautiful"  (Tyler). 
6.    Anchored.     Cf.  A.  and  C.  i.  5.  33  :  — 

"  and  great  Pompey 
Would  stand  and  make  his  eyes  grow  in  my  brow  ; 
There  would  he  anchor  his  aspect  ;  " 

and  M.  for  M.  ii.  4.  4  :  — 

"  Whilst  my  invention,  hearing  not  my  tongue, 
Anchors  on  Isabel." 

See  also  Cyntb.  v.  5.  393,  Rich.  III.  iv.  4.  231,  etc. 

Where  all  men  ride  indicates  her  character.  Cf.  Much  Ado, in. 
1.  no  :   "every  man's  Hero." 

9.  Several  plot.  Hallivvell-Phillipps  says  :  "  Fields  that  were 
enclosed  were  called  severals  in  opposition  to  commons,  the  former 
belonging  to  individuals,  the  others  to  the  inhabitants  generally. 
When  commons  were  enclosed,  portions  allotted  to  owners  of 
freeholds,  copyholds,  and  cottages,  were  fenced  in,  and  termed 
severals."  Cf.  L.  L.  L.  ii.  1.  233  :  "  My  lips  are  no  common, 
though  several  they  be." 

13.  Things  right  true.  Referring  to  "the  true  character"  of 
the  lady,  "  about  which  there  could  be  no  mistake  "  (Tyler)  ;  but 
in  things  right  true  may  mean  "  in  regard  to  what  is  true  and  fair 
in  woman." 

14.  This  false  plague.     This  false  and  baneful  woman. 


Notes  239 


CXXXVIII 

This  sonnet  appeared  as  the  first  poem  of  The  Passionate  Pilgrim 
(see  pp.  II,  16  above)  in  the  following  form  (except  in  spell- 
ing) :  — 

"  When  my  love  swears  that  she  is  made  of  truth, 
I  do  believe  her,  though  I  know  she  lies, 
That  she  might  think  me  some  untutor'd  youth, 
Unskilful  in  the  world's  false  forgeries. 
Thus  vainly  thinking  that  she  thinks  me  young, 
Although  /  know  my  years  be  past  the  best, 
/  smiling  credit  her  false-speaking  tongue, 
Outfacing  faults  in  love  luith  love's  ill  rest. 
But  wherefore  says  my  love  that  she  is  young  f 
And  wherefore  say  not  I  that  I  am  old? 
O,  love's  best  habit  is  a  soothing  tongue, 
And  age,  in  love,  loves  not  to  have  years  told, 
Therefore  /  '11  lie  with  love,  and  love  with  me, 
Since  that  our  faults  in  love  thus  smother' d  be." 

The  variations  are  too  great  to   be  the  work  of  Jaggard   or  his 
editor.     He  must  have  had  a  different  manuscript. 

2.  I  do  beliez'e  her.  Pretend  to  believe  her  ;  that  she  may  think 
me  an  inexperienced  youth.     He  suppresses  the  truth,  as  she  does. 

II.    Habit.     Bearing,  deportment. 

CXXXIX 

The  poet  complains  that  she  shares  her  favours  with  others. 

3.  Wound  me  not  7vith  thine  eve.  Malone  quotes  A',  and  J.  ii. 
4.  14:  "stabbed  with  a  white  wench's  black  eye;"  and  Steevens 
adds  3  Hen,  VI.  v.  6.  26:  "Ah,  kill  me  with  thy  weapon,  not  with 
words!  "     See  also  A.  Y.  I.,  iii.  5.  10  fol. 

CXL 

The  complaint  is  continued  here. 
2.     Tongue-tied.      Silent  hitherto. 


240  Notes 

4.    Pity -wanting.     Unpitied  by  you. 

6.    To  tell  me  so.     "  To  tell  me  thou  dost  love  me  "  (Malone) , 
11.   Ill-wresting.     Misinterpreting,  ill-construing. 
14.    Bear  thine  eyes  straight,  etc.     "That  is,  as  it  is  expressed  in 
93.  4,  'Thy  looks  with  me,  thy  heart  in  other  place '  "  (Malone). 

CXLI 

8.  Sensual  feast.     Gratification  of  the  senses. 

9.  Five  wits.  The  wits,  or  intellectual  powers,  seem  to  have 
been  reckoned  as  five  to  correspond  with  the  five  senses,  which 
were  also  called  wits.  Cf.  Chau.er,  Persones  Tale :  "  the  five 
wittis ;  as  sight,  hereing,  smelling,  savouring,  and  touching." 
Boswell  quotes  a  prayer  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  in  which  he  asks 
to  be  forgiven  for  his  sins  "  in  mispending  of  my  five  wittes." 
Schmidt  says  that  "the  proverbial  five  wits"  were  "common  wit, 
imagination,  fantasy,  estimation,  memory."  In  the  present  pas- 
sage we  find  the  two  meanings  distinguished. 

11.  Who  leaves  unsway'd,  etc.  "  My  heart  ceases  to  govern  me, 
and  so  leaves  me  no  better  than  the  likeness  of  a  man  —  a  man 
without  a  heart  —  in  order  that  it  may  become  slave  to  thy  proud 
heart  "  (Dowden). 

14.  Pain.  "In  its  old  etymological  sense  of  punishment" 
(Walker)  ;  but  though  the  word  implies  that  the  suffering  was 
right  and  fitting,  "we  need  not  give  it  the  special  sense  of  penalty" 
(Tyler). 

CXLII 

I.  Thy  dear  virtue.  Thy  cherished  virtue  —  the  only  virtue  she 
has.  She  hates  him  for  his  love,  and  his  love  is  sin  ;  and  so  far  she 
is  right.     But,  he  adds,  you  are  just  as  sinful. 

6.  Their  scarlet  ornaments.  Cf.  Edw.  III.  ii.  I  :  "  His  cheeks 
put  on  their  scarlet  ornaments."  The  line  occurs  in  the  part  of 
the  play  ascribed  by  suiiic  to  S.     Sec  on  94.   14  above. 


Notes  241 


7.  StaVd false  bonds  of  love.     Cf.   V.  and  A.  51 1:  — 

"  Pure  lips,  sweet  seals  in  my  soft  lips  imprinted, 
What  bargains  may  I  make,  still  to  be  sealing  ?  " 

See  also  M.  for  Af.  iv.  1.5  and  Af.  of  V.  ii.  6.  6. 

8.  A'obb'd  others'  beds'  revenues,  etc.  "  Implying,  probably,  that 
she  had  received  the  attentions  of  other  married  men"  (Tyler). 

y.     Be  it  lawful,  etc.     Cf.  Sonn.  139. 

13.  If  thou  dost  seek,  etc.  "If  you  seek  for  pity,  but  will  show 
none." 

CXLIII 

An  elaborate  but  homely  simile.     See  on  125.  11. 

4.  Pursuit.  Accented  on  the  first  syllable ;  the  only  instance 
in  S.  Cf.  pursue  in  M.  of  V.  iv.  1.  298:  "  We  trifle  time  ;  I  pray 
thee,  pursue  sentence."  Walker  gives  many  examples  of  pursuit  ; 
as  Heywood,  Dutchess  of  Suffolk :  "The  eager  pursuit  of  our  ene- 
mies ;  "  Spanish  Tragedy :  "  Thy  negligence  in  pursuit  of  their 
deaths  ;  "  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  Wit  at  Several  Weapons,  v.  I  : 
"  In  pursuit  of  the  match,  and  will  enforce  her  ;  "  Massinger,  Fatal 
Dowry,  ii.  2 :   "  Forsake  the  pursuit  of  this  lady's  honour,"  etc. 

8.    Not  prizing.     Not  regarding. 

13.  Will.  "  Possibly,  as  Steevens  takes  it,  Will  Shakspere  ;  but 
it  set- ms  as  likely,  or  perhaps  more  likely,  to  be  Shakspere's  friend 
'  Will'  [?  W.  H.].  The  last  two  lines  promise  that  Shakspere  will 
pray  for  her  success  in  the  chase  of  the  fugitive  (Will?),  on  condi- 
tion that,  if  successful,  she  will  turn  back  to  him,  Shakspere,  her 
babe"  (Dowden).     This,  in  my  opinion  is  clearly  the  meaning. 

CXLIV 

"This  sonnet  appears  as  the  second  poem  in  The  Passionate 
Pilgrim  with  the  following  variations:  in  2,  'That  like;'  in  3, 
'  My  better  angel  ;  '  in  4,  '  My  worser  spirit  ;  '  in  6,  '  horn  my  side  ; ' 
in  8,  'fair  pride;  'in    11,  'For  being  both  to  me;  '   in   13,  'The 

SHAKESPEARE'S    SONNETS —  l6 


242  Notes 


truth  I  shall  not  know.'     Compare  with  this  sonnet  the  20th  of 
Drayton's  Idea :  — 

'  An  evil  spirit,  your  beauty  haunts  me  still, 

Which  ceaseth  not  to  tempt  me  to  each  ill; 

Thus  am  I  still  provok'd  to  every  evil 

By  that  good-wicked  spirit,  sweet  angel-deviL' 

Compare  also  A  strophe  I  and  Stella,  5  th  Song  :  — 

'  Yet  witches  may  repent,  thou  art  far  worse  than  they, 
Alas,  that  I  am  forst  such  evill  of  thee  to  say, 
I  say  thou  art  a  Divill  though  cloth'd  in  Angel's  shining: 
For  thy  face  tempts  my  soule  to  leave  the  heaven  for  thee,'  etc." 

(Dowden). 

For  the  general  misunderstanding  of  this  sonnet,  see  p.  38  above. 
2.    Suggest.     Tempt.     Cf.  Oth.  ii.  3.  358  :  — 

"  When  devils  will  the  blackest  sins  put  on, 
They  do  suggest  at  first  with  heavenly  shows,"  etc. 

6.  From  my  side.  The  quarto  has  "  sight ;  "  corrected  from  the 
P.  P.  version. 

II.    From  me.     Away  from  me  ;    a  common  meaning  of  from. 

14.  Till  my  bad  angel,  etc.  Dowden  compares  2  Hen.  IV.  ii.  4. 
365:  — 

"  Prince  Henry.    For  the  women  ? 
Falstaff.   For  one  of  them,  she  is  in  hell  already,  and  burns  poor  souls." 

I  prefer  Hanmer's  reading  "  burns,  poor  soul,"  but  the  allusion  in 
burns  is  the  same  in  either  case. 

CXLV 

"The  only  sonnet  written  in  eight-syllable  verse.  Some  critics, 
partly  on  this  ground,  partly  because  the  rhymes  are  ill-managed, 
reject  it  as  not  by  Shakspere  "  (Dowden). 


Notes  243 


13.  'I  hate''  from  hate,  etc.  "  She  removed  the  words  I  hate  to  a 
distance  from  hatred ;  she  changed  their  natural  import  ...  by 
subjoining  not  you"  (Malone).  He  compares  R.  of  L.  1534— 1537. 
Steevens  would  read  "  I  hate  —  away  from  hate  she  flew,"  etc. ; 
that  is,  "  having  pronounced  the  words  /  hate,  she  left  me  with  a 
declaration  in  my  favour."  Dowden  is  inclined  to  accept  Malone's 
explanation,  but  thinks  the  meaning  may  possibly  be,  "  from  hatred 
to  such  words  as  I  hate,  she  threw  them  away." 

CXLVI 

Eminently  a  religious  sonnet,  though  it  seems  to  have  been  mis- 
understood by  Tyler.     See  on  line  1 1  below. 

2.  Pressed  by  these  rebel  powers,  etc.  The  quarto  has  "  My  sin- 
full  earth  these  rebbell,"  etc.  The  corruption  was  doubtless  due, 
as  Malone  suggests,  to  the  compositor's  inadvertently  repeating  the 
closing  words  of  the  first  verse  at  the  beginning  of  the  second, 
omitting  two  syllables  that  belong  there.  Many  emendations  have 
been  proposed:  "  Fool'd  by  those"  (Malone),  "  Starv'd  by  the" 
(Steevens),  "Fool'd  by  these"  (Dyce),  " Foil'd  by  these"  (Pal- 
grave),  "Ilemm'd  with  these"  (Furnivall),  "Thrall  to  these" 
(anonymous),  "Slave  of  these"  (Cartwright) ,  "Leagued  with 
these"  (Brae),  "  Why  feed'st  "  (Tyler's  —  the  worst),  etc.  Pressed 
by  is  due  to  Dowden,  and  it  is  on  the  whole  as  good  a  guess  as  any 
that  has  been  made. 

Array  is  explained  by  some  as  =  clothe.  Massey  thinks  it  also 
signifies  "  that  in  the  flesh  these  rebel  powers  set  their  battle  in 
array  against  the  soul."  Dr.  Ingleby,  in  his  pamphlet  The  Soule 
Araved,  1S72  (reprinted  in  Shakespeare  :  the  Man  and  the  Book, 
Part  I.,  1X77),  takes  the  ground  that  array  (or  aray)  is  =  abuse, 
afflict,  ill-treat.  He  gives  several  examples  of  this  sense  from 
writers  of  the  time.  It  is  not  found  elsewhere  in  S.,  but  we  have 
rayed  in  /'.  of  S,  iii.  2.  ^4  and  iv.  1.  3,  where  Schmidt  explains  it 
as    "  defiled,    dirtied."      I    prefer    this    explanation   to   that,    which 


244  Notes 

makes  array  =  clothe  —  which  seems  to  me  forced  and  unnatural 
here  —  but  I  should  prefer  Massey's  "set  their  battle  in  array 
against"  to  either  if  any  other  example  of  this  meaning  could  be 
found.  Perhaps  the  turn  thus  given  to  the  military  sense  is  no 
more  remarkable  than  the  liberties  S.  takes  with  sundry  other 
words ;  and  here  the  exigencies  of  the  rhyme  might  justify  it. 
For  the  rebel  powers  and  the  outward  walls,  cf.  R,  of  L.  722: — 

"  She  says  her  subjects  with  foul  insurrection 
Have  batter  'd  down  her  consecrated  wall, 
And  by  their  mortal  fault  brought  in  subjection 
Her  immortality,  and  made  her  thrall 
To  living  death  and  pain  perpetual." 

8.  Thy  charge?  That  on  which  you  have  expended  so  much.  Cf. 
K.  John,  i.  1.  49  :   "this  expedition's  charge,''  etc. 

10.  Aggravate.  Increase.  Cf.  M.  N.  D.  i.  2.  84  (Bottom's 
speech)  :   "I  will  aggravate  my  voice,"  etc. 

11.  Terms.  Walker  says  :  "In  the  legal  and  academic  sense  ; 
long  periods  of  time,  opposed  to  hours."  Cf.  2  Hen.  IV.  v.  I.  90  : 
"  the  wearing  out  of  six  fashions,  which  is  four  terms,  or  two 
actions."  Tyler  strangely  takes  this  passage  to  refer  only  to  "  im- 
mortal renown,  which  is  to  be  purchased  by  .  .  .  study  and  enthu- 
siastic literary  work."  He  also  refers  13,  14,  to  mere  "literary 
immortality." 

CXLVII 

Dowden  regards  this  as  "in  connection  with  146,"  which  seems 
to  me  to  be  entirely  independent  of  this  series. 

5.  My  reason,  the  physician,  etc.  Malone  compares  M.  W.  ii. 
1.  5  :   "though  Love  use  Reason  for  his  physician,"  etc. 

7.  Approve.  Find  by  experience  (that).  Cf.  Oth.  ii.  3.  317  : 
"  I  have  well  approved  it,"  etc. 

8.  Except.  Object  to,  refuse.  Palgrave  explains  thus  :  "  I  now 
discover  that  desire  which  reason  rejected  is  death  ;  "  but  Dowden, 
better,  "  desire  which    did   object  to   physic."     Physic    did  except 


Notes  I45 

repeats  the   idea  in  prescriptions  not  kept,  not  that  in    reason  .  .  . 
hath  left  me,  as  Palgrave  seems  to  suppose. 

9.  Past  cure,  etc.  Cf.  L.  L.  I.,  v.  2.  28  :  "past  cure  is  still  past 
care."  It  was  a  proverbial  saying  Malone  quotes  Holland's 
Leaguer,  a  pamphlet  published  in  1632  :  '•  She  has  got  the  adage 
in  her  mouth  ;    Things  past  cure,  past  care." 

10.  Evermore    unrest.     Walker    compares    Coleridge,    Remorse, 

v.  I  :  — 

"  hopelessly  deform'd 
By  sights  of  evermore  deformity." 

Sidney  {Arcadia,  book  v.)  has  "  the  time  of  my  ever  farewell  ap- 
proacheth." 

14.    As  black  as  hell.     Cf.  131.  1 2- 1 4  and  144.  4. 

CXLVIII 

4.  Censures.  Judges.  Cf.  K.John,  ii.  1.  328, J.  C.  iii.  2.  16, 
etc.;    and  for  the  noun  (  =  judgment),   Macb.  v.   4.  14,   Ham.   i.  3. 

69,  etc. 

8.  /.ove's  eye,  etc.  The  quarto  (followed  by  most  of  the  editors) 
ends  the  line  with  "all  mens  :  no."  The  reading  in  the  text  was 
suggested  by  Lettsom,  and  is  adopted  by  Dyce,  the  Cambridge 
editors  ("Globe"  ed.),  and  others.  It  assumes  a  play  upon  eye 
ami  ay.  Lettsom  afterwards  proposed  "that"  for  love  in  the  pre- 
ceding line. 

13.  O  cunning  Love!  "Here  he  is  perhaps  speaking  of  his 
mistress,  but  if  so,  he  identities  her  with  '  Love,'  views  her  as  Love 
personified,  and  so  the  capital  /.  is  right"  (Dowden).  Tyler  thinks 
Love  has  the  same  sense  as  in  1  above. 

CXLIX 

"Connected  with  148,  as  appears  from  the  closing  lines  of  the 
two  sonnets  "  (Dowden). 

2.    Partake f     Take  part  ;    the  only  instance  of  the  verb  in  this 


246 


Notes 


sense  in  S.,  but  cf.  the  noun  in  1   Hen.  VI.  ii.  4.  100  :  "your  par- 
taker Pole." 

4.  All  tyrant.  Possibly  vocative,  as  Dowden  makes  it  =  thou 
who  art  a  complete  tyrant.  Malone  conjectures  "all  truant." 
Tyler  explains  it  as  =  "Thus  play  the  tyrant  towards  myself;  "  that 
is,  in  being  "reckless  of  his  own  interests." 

7.  Lower' st.     Frownest ;   as  in  C.  of  E.  ii.  I.  86,  etc. 

8.  Present.     Instant,  immediate  ;   as  very  often. 

CL 

2.  With  insufficiency,  etc.  "To  rule  my  heart  by  defects" 
(Dowden). 

4.  And  swear,  etc.  "Implying,  if  the  day  is  bright  and  beauti- 
ful, thou  certainly  art  not  so"  (Tyler). 

5.  This  becoming  of  things  ill.     Malone  quotes  A.  and  C.  ii.  2. 

243  =  — 

"  for  vilest  things 

Become  themselves  in  her,"  etc. 

7.  Warrantise  of  skill.  Surety  or  pledge  of  ability.  Cf. 
1  Hen.  VI.  i.  3.  13  :    "I'll  be  your  warrantise." 

CLI 

Omitted  by  Palgraye.  See  on  20  above.  Dowden  remarks  : 
"Mr.  Massey,  with  unhappy  ingenuity,  misinterprets  thus  :  'The 
meaning  of  Sonnet  15 1,  when  really  mastered,  is  that  he  is  be- 
trayed into  sin  with  others  by  her  image,  and  in  straying  elsewhere 
he  is  in  pursuit  of  her  ;    it  is  on  her  account.'  " 

3.  Cheater.  Staunton  takes  the  word  to  be  here  =  escheator,  as 
in  M.  W.  i.  3.  77,  but  the  ordinary  meaning  is  clearly  the  right  one. 
For  amiss,  see  on  35.  7  above. 

10.  Triumphant  prize.  "Triumphal  prize,  the  prize  of  his 
triumph"  (Walker).     Pride  =  proud  conquest. 

12.     To  stand,  etc.   Cf.  Mercutio's  speech  in  K.  and  J.  ii.  1.22-29. 


Notes  247 


14.  Rise  and  fall.  Tyler  explains  :  "Rise  m  the  triumph  of 
the  flesh,  and  fall  in  the  subjugation  and  humiliation  of  the  spirit;  " 
but  the  latter  part  of  the  paraphrase  is  too  serious  for  the  general 
tone  of  the  sonnet,  which  is  the  only  one  in  the  series  which  is 
frankly  and  realistically  gross.  There  is  nothing  of  the  spirit  of 
129  in  it. 

CLII 

The  poet  admits  his  own  sin,  but  declares  that  hers  is  worse. 

3.  In  act  thy  bed-vow  broke.  This  seems  to  imply  that  the 
lady  was  married,  but  bed-vow  may  possibly  refer  to  her  illicit  re- 
lations with  the  poet,  to  whom  she  had  pledged  a  "  faith  unfaith- 
ful, falsely  true,"  as  Tennyson  expresses  it.  But  since  we  cannot 
identify  her,  the  simpler  interpretation  may  be  correct,  though  it  is 
singular  that  elsewhere  in  the  Sonnets  we  should  find  no  reference 
to  a  husband  if  sha  had  one. 

9.   Kindness.     Affection,  tenderness;  as  in  Much  Ado,  iii.  I.  113  : 

"  If  thou  dost  love,  my  kindness  shall  incite  thee 
To  bind  our  loves  up  in  a  holy  band." 

II.  To  enlighten  thee,  etc.  "To  see  thee  in  the  brightness  of 
imagination  I  gave  away  my  eyes  to  blindness,  made  myself  blind  " 
(Dowden). 

13.  Perjur'd  I.  The  quarto  has  "eye"  for  //  corrected  by 
Scwell. 

CLIII 

Malone  remarks  :  "This  and  the  following  sonnet  are  composed 
of  the  very  same  thoughts  differently  versified.  They  seem  to  have 
been  early  essays  of  the  poet,  who  perhaps  had  not  determined 
which  he  should  prefer.  He  hardlv  could  have  intended  to  send 
them  both  into  the  world." 

iierr  Krau>s  (quoted  by  Dowdan")  believes  these  sonnets  to  be 
harmless  trilles,  written  for  the  gay  company  at  some  bathing- 
Dlace. 


248  Notes 

Herr  Hertzberg  (Jahrbuch  der  Deutschen  Shakespeare-Gesell- 
schaft,  1878,  pp.  158-162)  has  found  a  Greek  source  for  these 
two  sonnets.  He  writes  :  "  Dann  ging  ich  an  die  palatinische  An- 
thologie  und  fand  daselbst  nach  langem  Suchen  im  ix.  Buche 
(EirideiKTiicd)  unter  N.  637  die  ersehnte  Quelle.  .  .  .    Es  lautet :  — 

T^S'  utto  Tas  nXaTavovs  aTraAui  TCTpv/xevos  virvyt 

ev$ev"Epu>$,  Yvp.<j>a.LS  \a.p.TrdSa  jrapfleyos. 
N\in<t>ai.  &'  aAAjjApcri,  '  ri  p.i\\oix(v  ;      a.\6t  &t  roiiry 

<r{3c(r<raij.cv,'  ciTro^,  '  o^jlou  niip  KpaStri<;  p.eporruv. 
AafxTra?  8'  tus  «f$Ae£e  teal  i'SaTa,  6cpp.bv  €K(t.9fv 

Nv/uK^ai  'Ep<DTta6>s  \ovTpoxoev<rtv  iSuip." 

Dowden  adds  :  "  The  poem  is  by  the  Byzantine  Marianus,  a  writer 
probably  of  the  fifth  century  after  Christ.  The  germ  of  the  poem 
is  found  in  an  Epigram  by  Zenodotus  :  — 

T15  yA0i//as  toi-  *Epa)Ta  irapa  KprjvrjaLv  i8r)Ktv  ; 
Oi6p.€vos  nav<Tf(.v  tovto  to  7r0p  vfiaTi. 

How  Shakspere  became  acquainted  with  the  poem  of  Marianus  we 
cannot  tell,  but  it  had  been  translated  into  Latin  :  '  Selecta  Epi- 
grammata,  Basel,  1529,'  and  again  several  times  before  the  close 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

"  I  add  literal  translations  of  the  epigrams  :  '  Here  'neath  the 
plane  trees,  weighed  down  by  soft  slumber,  slept  Love,  having 
placed  his  torch  beside  the  Nymphs.  Then  said  the  Nymphs  to 
one  another,  "  Why  do  we  delay  ?  Would  that  togeti.er  with 
this  we  had  extinguished  the  lire  of  mortals'  heart  !  "  But  as  the 
torch  made  the  waters  also  to  blaze,  hot  is  the  water  the  amorous 
Nymphs  (or  the  Nymphs  of  the  region  of  Eros)  draw  thence 
for  their  bath.' 

"'  Who  was  the  man  that  carved  [the  statue  of]  Love,  and  set  it 
by  the  fountains,  thinking  to  quench  this  fire  with  water?  ' 

"In  Surrey's  Complaint  of  the  /.over  Disdained  (Aldine  ed. 
p.  12),  we  read  of  a  hot  and  a  cold  well  of  love.  ShensUme  (  Wui  ks, 
ed.  1777,  vol.  i.  p.  144)  versifies  anew  the  theme  of  this  and  the 
following  sonnet   in  his  '  Anacreontic'     Hermann    Isaac    suggests 


Notes  249 

that  the  valley-fountain  may  signify  marriage,  but  this  will  hardly 
agree  with  154.  12,  13." 

6.  Dateless.     Eternal.     Cf.  30.  6  above.     Lively  =  living  ;   ai  in 
V.  and  A.  498,  etc. 

7.  Prove.     Y\v.d  by  trying,  find  to  be.     Cf.  72.  4  above. 

n.    Bath.     The  quarto  has  "  bath,"  but  Steevens   suggests  that 
we  should  pr.nt  "  Bath  "  (the  name  of  the  English  city). 

14.  Eyes.     The  quarto  has  "  eye  ;  "  corrected  in  the  ed.  of  1640. 


CLIV 

7.    The  general  of  hot  desire.     In  L.  L.  L.  iii.  1.  187  he  is  called 

"  great  general 
Of  trotting  paritors." 

Cf.  Two  Noble  Kinsmen,  v.   I.    163  :    "our  general  of   ebbs  and 
flows"  (Diana,  or  Luna). 

12.  Thrall.     Bondman.     Cf.  Macb.  iii.  6.   13  :  "the  slaves  of 
drink  and  thralls  of  sleep,"  etc. 

13.  This  by  that,  etc.     That  is,  the  statement  in  the  next  line. 


APPENDIX 

The  Sonnets  and  the  Baconian  Theory 

The  Sonnets  have  been  a  stumbling-block  to  many  of  the 
"  Baconians."  As  Grant  White  remarks,  "  that  Bacon  wrote  them 
is  morally  impossible,"  and,  I  should  add,  poetically  impossible. 
But  whoever  wrote  them  must  also  have  written  the  plays.  The 
"  parallelisms  "  of  style  in  the  plays  and  the  Sonnets  are  far  more 
remarkable  than  any  which  the  Baconians  imagine  they  find  in  the 
works  of  Bacon  and  Shakespeare. 

Mr.  W.  D.  O'Connor,  in  his  Hamlet's  Note-Book,  agrees  with 
Grant  White  that  the  Sonnets  cannot  be  Bacon's  :  "  The  considera- 
tions which  he  [White]  advances  are  manifestly  conclusive." 
"He  might  have  gone  further,"  adds  Mr.  O'Connor,  "  and  shown 
that  their  autobiographic  revelations  are  no  less  incompatible  with 
the  history  of  Bacon's  life."  We  are  then  told  that  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  wrote  the  Sonnets ;  as  Mr.  George  S.  Caldwell  had  main- 
tained nearly  ten  years  earlier  in  Australia. 

Mr.  Caldwell's  pamphlet  was  entitled  Is  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  the 
Author  of  Shakespeare's  Plays  and  Sonnets?  (Melbourne,  1877). 
It  was  to  be  followed  by  a  book  (which,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  never 
published),  the  greater  portion  of  which,  he  said,  was  to  be  made 
up  of  "  extracts  from  The  History  of  the  World  [by  Raleigh]  and 
from  the  plays."  He  added  :  "These  extracts  will  show  so  com- 
plete an  identification  of  opinions,  principles,  and  peculiarities  of 
thought  and  expression,  as  will,  1  am  sanguine,  carry  conviction  to 
the  minds  of  every  interested  reader  that  the  plays  must  have  been 
written  by  Raleigh.  .   .  .     After  five  years'  consideration,  I  now  say 

250 


Appendix  251 

that  the  materials  in  my  possession  are  sufficient  to  finally  settle  the 
controversy."  In  his  pamphlet  he  says  :  "The  Sonnets  71,  72, 
73,  and  74,  to  my  mind,  afford  proof  than  which  nothing  could 
be  stronger  of  the  identification  of  Raleigh  as  the  author.  With 
most  unwavering  confidence  I  advance  the  proposition  that  these 
sonnets  were  addressed  by  Raleigh  to  his  wife  when  he  was  lying 
under  sentence  of  death  in  1603."  Some  of  the  Sonnets,  he  be- 
lieves, were  addressed  to  Elizabeth.  Sonnet  37  was  a  tribute  to 
Prince  Henry.  Raleigh  before  1596  had  a  limp  ;  in  that  year  he 
was  wounded  and  became  lame  for  the  rest  of  his  life  (cf.  Sonn. 
37  and  89). 

Another  Australian,  Mr.  William  Thomson  (in  The  Renascence 
Drama;  or  History  made  Visible,  Melbourne,  1880),  informs  us 
that  the  Sonnets  were  written  by  Bacon  in  1600,  to  be  read  by 
William  Herbert  to  the  Queen,  and  thereby  to  win  back  her  regard 
for  her  offending  truant  Essex,  when  the  "lord  of  my  love"  lay 
under  his  last  eclipse.  Elizabeth  was  a  "  black  "  beauty,  not  liter- 
ally, but  as  being  hostile  in  mind  and  will  to  Essex. 

In  18S1,  Mrs.  C.  F.  Ashmead-Windle  of  San  Francisco  printed 
an  Address  to  the  New  Shakspere  Society  of  London,  in  which  she 
announced  the  "  discovery  of  Lord  Verulam's  undoubted  authorship 
of  the  Shakspere  works."  She  fancied  that  she  found  in  the 
plays  "  an  enigma  under  a  veiled  allegory,"  the  key  to  which  "is 
contained  in  the  mystery  of  the  Sonnets."  An  "absolute  divineness 
of  ideality  underlies  their  mere  outward  form,  as  well  as  a  plaintive 
autobiographical  information  of  the  poet's  consciousness."  She 
illustrates  her  discovery  by  comments  on  Cymbcline,  where  Pos- 
thumus  symbolizes  the  posthumous  fame  of  Bacon,  Cloten  ("  cloth- 
ing") his  living  bodily  personality,  and  Morgan  ("my  organ") 
the  Novum  Organum,  I'osthumus  is  the  son  of  Sicilius,  and  the 
sonnet-form  is  of  Sicilian  origin.  Sicilius,  therefore,  signifies  the 
"poetic  genius"  invoked  in  the  sonnets  of  Bacon  as  a  "lovely 
boy,"  and  urged  to  beget  "copies"  of  himself  that  should  gain 
enduring  fame.     Tenantius,  by  whom  Sicilius  "had  his  titles"  of 


252  Appendix 

beauty,  grace,  and  honour,  was  the  author  of  the  Sonnets  and  the 
plays,  or  Bacon.  Mrs.  Windle  modestly  remarks  :  "  I  feel  that  my 
penetration  into,  and  unfolding  of  the  inmost  mind  and  heart  of 
these  plays,  is  a  realization  of  the  deepest  reach  of  sympathetic 
intuition  of  which  the  human  intellect  and  soul  are  capable  —  only 
short  of  that  attained  by  the  immortal  dramatist." 

The  poor  lady,  if  not  already  insane,  afterwards  became  so,  like 
Delia  Bacon,  and  died  in  an  asylum ;  but  in  1882  she  had  printed 
a  second  pamphlet  in  the  form  of  a  Report  to  the  British  Museum, 
setting  forth  "  the  discovery  and  opening  of  the  cipher  of  Francis 
Bacon,  Lord  Verulam,  alike  in  his  prose  writings  and  the  '  Shak- 
spere '  dramas,  proving  him  the  author  of  the  dramas."  The  sup- 
posed hidden  significance  of  the  titles  of  the  plays,  and  of  the  names 
of  the  characters  in  them,  is  here  illustrated  more  fully.  The  title 
of  Othello,  for  instance,  is  thus  elucidated :  — 

"  A  tale,  oh  !     I  tell,  oh  ! 
Oh,  dell,  oh  !     What  wail,  oh  ! 
Oh,  hill,  oh  !     What  willow  ! 
What  hell,  oh  !     What  will,  oh  ! 
At  will,  oh  !     At  well,  oh  ! 
I  dwell,  oh  !  " 

Desdemona  is  analyzed  as  "  With  a  demon  A,  with  a  moan,  ah  ! " 
and  refers  to  "  the  double  tragedy  of  Bacon's  muse  ;  "  Emilia  stands 
for  "  I  'm  ill,  you,  I  mill  you,"  and  refers  to  "  the  expression  of 
Bacon's  ill,  continued  in  play  after  play,  as  milestones  of  his  life." 
This  crazy  juggling  with  names  is  carried  through  all  the  plays,  and 
similarly  used  to  illustrate  Bacon's  life  and  literary  career.  It  is 
the  lunacy  of  the  Baconian  "  cipherers  "  and  "  cranks  "  in  its  ulti- 
mate development.     "That  way  madness  lies  !  " 

In  1887,  Judge  H.  L.  Hosmer  brought  out  a  book  in  San  Fran- 
cisco entitled,  Bacon  and  Shakespeare  in  the  Sonnets,  in  which 
he  takes  the  ground  that  these  poems  are  addressed  by  Bacon  to 
Shakespeare,  and  that  in  them  the  former  makes  over  the  plays  to 
the  latter,  and  gives  him  directions  concerning  the  concealment  of 


Appendix  253 

their  true  authorship.  The  Sonnets  also  contain  much  impersona- 
tion of  Youth  and  Thought  (both  of  these  "  in  the  abstract  and 
in  delineation  "),  the  Drama,  Tragedy,  etc. 

I  will  quote  but  a  single  amusing  illustration  of  the  manner  in 
which  this  "  learned  judge  "  interprets  the  poems  and  shows  how 
they  prove  Bacon's  authorship.     In   Sonn.  76,  we  read  :  — 

"  Why  write  I  still  all  one,  ever  the  same, 
And  keep  invention  in  a  noted  weed, 
That  every  word  doth  almost  tell  my  name, 
Showing  their  birth  and  where  they  did  proceed  ?  " 

Superficial  critics  have  supposed  that  to  "  keep  invention  in  a 
noted  weed"  meant  to  clothe  imagination,  or  the  creations  of  im- 
agination, in  a  well-known  or  familiar  dress  (that  of  the  sonnet); 
but  this  is  a  sad  misconception.  Judge  Hosmer  remarks  :  "The 
only  weed  of  which  history  gives  any  account  in  Elizabeth's  time 
was  tobacco.  The  word  tobacco,  by  its  various  forms  of  pronun- 
ciation, was  blessed  with  an  orthography  that  would  fill  a  small 
dictionary."  Examples  are  given,  including  'ba ceo  and  baccy,  and 
he  continues  :  "  In  every  form  which  spelling  gave  to  tobacco,  it 
almost  told  the  name  of  Bacon."  He  adds  triumphantly  :  "This 
evidence  of  the  true  origin  of  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare,  written 
by  their  author,  and  published  nearly  three  centuries  ago,  during 
Shakespeare's  life,  cannot  by  any  force  of  logic  or  ingenuity  be  de- 
stroyed. .  .  .  No  other  name  can  fill  the  requirements  of  that  line 
but  Bacon.'1''  I  know  nothing  about  "Judge  Hosmer"  (as  the 
local  reviewers  of  his  book  designate  him)  except  that  he  is  the 
author  of  this  erudite  work  on  the  Sonnets.  Whether  he  is  still 
living  (1905),  and  in  his  right  mind,  I  have  not  been  able  to 
learn.1 

Judge  Holmes  (the  ablest  and  sanest  of  the  Baconian  writers) 
has    no    doubt    thnt    the    Sonnets,    like   the   plays,  were  written  by 

1  He  is  not  mentioned  in  Adams's  Dictionary  of  American  Authors 
(revised  ed.  1905)  nor  in  the  American   Who's  Who  (1905  ed.) 


254  Appendix 

Bacon.  "The  similitudes  of  thought  and  diction,"  he  says,  "are 
such  as  to  put  at  rest  all  question  on  that  head.  .  .  .  They  bear 
the  impress  of  Bacon's  mind,  .  .  .  and  they  exhibit  states  of  mind 
and  feeling  which  will  find  an  explanation  nowhere  better  than  in 
his  personal  history."  We  know  that  "  Bacon  wrote  sonnets  ;  some 
of  them  were  addressed  to  the  queen,  and  were  '  commended  by 
the  great.' "  Meres's  reference  to  Shakespeare's  "  sugred  sonnets 
among  his  private  friends"  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  theory  of 
Bacon's  authorship,  for  "  we  positively  know  that  his  sonnets  and 
essays  did  pass  from  hand  to  hand  in  that  manner."  In  1609,  after 
some  of  these  sonnets  had  got  into  print  (by  Jaggard,  in  1599), 
he  took  care  "to  see  them  published  in  authentic  form,  though  in 
this  instance  under  the  name  of  another,  for  he  had  determined 
not  to  be  known  as  a  poet." 

The  most  recent  of  the  Baconians,  "  His  Honour  Judge  Webb, 
Regius  Professor  of  Laws  and  Public  Orator  in  the  University  of 
Dublin,"  as  his  name  appears  on  the  title-page  of  The  Mystery  of 
Williani  Shakespeare  (London,  1902),  also  believes  that  Bacon 
wrote  the  Sonnets.  He  says  :  "  By  showing  that  they  were  ad- 
dressed to  Southampton,  Mr.  Lee  has  unconsciously  suggested 
reasons  for  believing  that  they  were  addressed  to  him  by  Bacon. 
Southampton  was  the  ward  of  Bacon's  uncle  ;  he  was  a  member  of 
Bacon's  Inn  ;  he  was  one  of  Bacon's  set  ;  he  tilted  in  the  '  Device  ' 
which  Bacon  had  prepared  for  Essex  ;  and  till  the  miserable  fiasco 
of  1 601  he  was  the  bosom  friend  of  Bacon."  P"or  the  continuation 
of  the  subject  the  curious  reader  may  be  referred  to  the  Judge's 
book,  pp.  163-166  ;  and  also  to  pp.  263,  264,  where  he  attempts 
to  prove  that  the  edition  of  the  Sonnets  in  1609  was  not  a  piratical 
enterprise  ;  "the  extraordinary  care  with  which  they  are  arranged, 
punctuated,  and  printed,  being  proof  that  they  were  published 
with  the  author's  concurrence  and  consent,  if  not  under  his  actual 
supervision."  How,  with  all  this  extraordinary  care,  it  happened 
that  the  two  blank  lines  in  parentheses  were  inserted  at  the  end 
of  Sonn.  126,  the  Judge  does  not  inform  us.     He  ends,  however. 


Appendix  255 

by  repeating  that  "  it  was  the  author  only  who  could  have  arranged 
them  and  committed  them  to  the  press  ;  "  but,  whoever  may  have 
done  this,  they  contained  the  sonnet  which  warned  the  public  that 
Shakespeare  was  not  the  real  name  of  the  author  but  the  '  noted 
weed'  in  which  he  kept  invention"  (Sonn.  76). 

I  believe  that  Mr.  Edwin  Reed  was  the  first  (in  one  of  the  early 
editions  of  his  Bacon  vs.  Shakespeare)  to  suggest  this  ridiculous 
interpretation  of  Sonn.  76.  "Here,"  he  says,  "is  a  plain  state- 
ment that  the  author  of  this  sonnet  was  writing  under  a  disguise." 
He  adds  :  "  Weed  signifies  garment  ;  particularly  (as  Bacon  else- 
where uses  it)  one  that  disguises  the  wearer."  This  is  not  true  of 
the  word  as  generally  used  by  Elizabethan  writers  ;  and,  if  Bacon 
wrote  the  Shakespeare  plays,  he  has  sometimes  used  it  as  distinctly 
opposed  to  a  disguise.  In  T.  N.  (v.  1.  262)  Viola,  then  in  boy's 
dress,  says  :  — 

"  I  '11  bring  you  to  a  captain  in  this  town 
Where  lie  my  maiden  weeds  ;  " 

and  a  few  lines  below  (280)  the  Duke  says  :  — 

"  Give  me  thy  hand  ; 
And  let  me  see  thee  in  thy  woman's  weeds." 

Again,  in  Cymbeline  (v.  1.  23)  Posthumus  says  :  — 

"  I  '11  disrobe  me 
Of  these  Italian  weeds,  and  suit  myself 
As  does  a  Breton  peasant  ;  " 

that  is,  he  will  take  off  the  dress  he  has  been  wearing  as  a  soldier 
in  the  Roman  army,  and  assume  the  disguise  of  a  British  peasant. 

These  illustrations  of  the  Baconian  methods  of  dealing  with  the 
Sonnets  are  chosen  quite  at  random  from  the  few  books  which  I 
have  kept,  as  representative  of  the  literature  of  the  lunacy,  out  of 
the  many  that  have  come  into  my  possession  from  time  to  time.  - 

1  In  editing  a  department  of  "  Shakespeariana "  in  the  Literary 
World  and  the    Critic,  and  in  other  wavs. 


256  Appendix 

Most  of  them  have  been  discarded  as  not  worth  shelf-room  in  my 
library. 

For  the  bibliography  of  the  subject,  the  reader  may  be  referred 
to  Dowden's  larger  ed.  of  the  Sonnets  (London,  1881),  pp.  36-110, 
and  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Wyman's  Bibliography  of  the  Bacon-Shake- 
speare Controversy  (Cincinnati,  1884).  Both  authorities  give  many 
interesting  extracts  from  the  books,  pamphlets,  etc.,  and  comments 
thereupon. 


Was  Barnabe  Barnes  the  "Rival  Poet?" 

As  we  have  seen  (p.  43  above),  Mr.  Sidney  Lee  believes  that 
Barnabe  Barnes  was  the  "  rival  poet "  of  Sonnets  79-86.  This 
seems  to  me  on  the  whole  the  least  successful  of  the  many  attempts 
to  identify  the  man  ;  but  Barnes  is  so  little  known  to  readers  and 
students  in  general  that  a  brief  discussion  of  his  claims  to  the  posi- 
tion thus  accorded  to  him  is  not  inappropriate  here. 

In  his  interesting  introduction  to  the  valuable  collection  of 
Elizabethan  Sonnets,  newly  arranged  and  edited  from  Arber's 
"  English  Garner,"  Mr.  Lee  refers  to  Barnes  thus  :  — 

"  Barnabe  Barnes,  who  made  his  reputation  as  a  Sonneteer  in 
the  same  year  as  Lodge  (1593)  was  more  voluminous  than  any  of 
his  English  contemporaries.  The  utmost  differences  of  opinion 
have  been  expressed  by  modern  critics  as  to  the  value  of  his  work. 
One  denounces  him  as  •  a  fool ; '  another  eulogizes  him  as  '  a  born 
singer.'  He  clearly  had  a  native  love  of  literature,  and  gave  prom- 
ise of  lyric  power  which  was  never  quite  fulfilled.  His  Sonnet  66 
on  '  Content '  reaches  a  very  high  level  of  artistic  beauty,  and 
many  single  stanzas  and  lines  ring  with  true  harmony.  But  as  a 
whole  his  work  is  crude,  and  lacks  restraint.  He  frequently  sinks 
to  meaningless  doggerel,  and  many  of  his  grotesque  conceits  are 
offensive." 

At  this  point,  Mr.  Lee  inserts  this  footnote  :  "  Cf.  Sonnet  65, 
where,    not    content    with    wishing    himself  to    be    his    mistress's 


Appendix  257 

gloves,  her  pearl  necklace,  and  her  '  belt  of  gold,'  the  poet  prays 
to  be  also  metamorphosed  into  '  That  sweet  wine  which  down  her 
throat  doth  trickle.'"  Mr.  Lee  did  not  dare  —  and  I  cannot  ven- 
ture—  to  add  the  next  two  lines  in  which  the  "offensive"  conceit 
is  most  realistically  carried  out.  The  passage  is  not  more  gross 
than  others  in  Barnes's  poems,  but  I  know  of  none  in  worse  taste, 
as  such  things  go. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Lee  damns  Barnes  with  decidedly  "  faint 
praise."  If  we  judged  the  Sonneteer  by  this  critical  estimate  of 
his  work,  I  doubt  whether  we  could  believe  it  possible  that  Shake- 
speare would  have  honoured  him  by  recognizing  him  as  a  worthy 
rival  in  verse,  or  that  Southampton  (to  whom  Mr.  Lee  supposes 
Sonnets  79-86  to  have  been  addressed)  could  have  so  regarded 
him.  A  poet  whose  early  promise  was  "  never  quite  fulfilled," 
whose  work  "  as  a  wAole"  is  "crude,"  and  who  "frequently  sinks 
to  meaningless  doggerel"  could  hardly  be  the  "  better  spirit  "  who, 
"  in  polish'd  form  of  well-refined  pen,"  has  outdone  Shakespeare 
in  eulogizing  his  young  friend.  Could  it  be  such  a  poetaster,  who 
has  put  to  silence  the  muse  of  Shakespeare,  and  concerning  whom 
he  asks  :  — 

"  Was  it  the  proud  full  sail  of  his  great  verse, 
Bound  for  the  prize  of  all  too  precious  you, 
That  did  my  ripe  thoughts  in  my  brain  inhearse, 
Making  their  tomb  the  womb  wherein  they  grew  ? 
Was  it  his  spirit,  by  spirits  taught  to  write 
Above  a  mortal  pitch,  that  struck  me  dead?  " 

Mr.  Lee,  to  my  thinking,  adds  insult  to  injury  by  accusing 
Shakespeare  of  imitating  Barnes.  Of  the  latter  he  says  :  "  Con- 
stantly he  strikes  a  note  which  Shakespeare  clearly  echoed  in  fullei- 
tones."     The   only  examples  of  this  which  he  gives,1  though  he 

1  Two  others  are  mentioned  in  his  Life  of  S.  (pp.  134,  15a)  :  the 
figure  of  the  ship  in  Sonn.  80,  similar  to  that  in  Barnes's  Sonn.  91  ;  and 
that  ot  the  tears  "  distill'd  from  limbecks  foul  as  hell,"  in  Sonn.   119, 

SHAKESPEARE'S    SONNETS —  IJ 


258  Appendix 

says  that  "  the  parallels  between  Shakespeare's  and  Barnes's  son- 
nets are  far  more  numerous"  than  space  permits  him  to  cite,  are 
as  follows  :  — 

"  Cf.  Barnes's  Sonnet  56  :  '  The  dial !  love,  which  shows  how 
my  days  spend  ;  '  or  64  :  '  If  all  the  loves  were  lost,  and  should 
be  found  ; '  or  15  :  — 

'  Where  or  to  whom,  then,  shall  I  make  complaint  ? 

.  .  .  when  I  shall  resign 
Thy  love's  large  charter  and  thy  bonds  again.' 

Shakespeare  followed  Barnes  in  the  free  use  of  law  terms  (cf, 
Barnes's  Sonnets  4,  7,  20)." 

But  these  "  parallelisms,"  so  far  as  cited  (and  we  may  suppose 
that  Mr.  Lee  gives  what  he  regards  as  some  of  the  most  striking 
of  his  "  numerous  "  instances)  are  much  like  those  on  which  the 
"  Baconians  "  lay  so  much  stress,  —  familiar  figures  and  allusions 
found  in  many  writers  of  the  time.  Legal  terms,  as  Mr.  Lee  him- 
self shows,  are  common  in  many  of  the  Elizabethan  Sonnets,  and 
Judge  Allen  (in  his  Notes  on  the  Bacon- Shakespeare  Question, 
Boston,  1900)  has  proved  that  they  are  as  frequent  in  contempo- 
rary dramatists  as  in  Shakespeare. 

The  "  dial "  reference  is  merely  a  verbal  "  parallel."  The  two 
slight  allusions  in  Shakespeare  are  to  the  dial  as  illustrating  the 
passage  of  time  ;  and  in  the  first  (Sonn.  77)  the  sun-dial  is  clearly 
meant  (as  "shady  stealth  "  proves),  and  perhaps  also  in  the  second 
(Sonn.  104).  But  Barnes's  "dial"  is  a  town-clock,  symbolizing 
love,  and  the  figure  is  elaborated,  in  his  usual  bad  fashion,  through 
the  entire  Sonnet,  which  may  be  quoted  as  an  example  of  his  style 
rather  above  the  average  :  — 

"  The  Dial !  love,  which  shews  how  my  days  spend, 
The  leaden  Plummets  sliding  to  the  ground!  " 

which  is  supposed  to  have  been  "  adopted  "  from  Barnes's  Sonn.  49, 
quoted  by  me  below.  The  former  figure  is  a  familiar  one  in  poets  of 
the    ime,  and  the  latter  is  by  no  means  rare. 


Appendix  259 

My  thoughts,  which  to  dark  melancholy  bend. 

The  rolling  Wheels,  which  turn  swift  hours  round ! 

Thine  eyes,  Parthenope !  my  Fancy's  guide. 

The  Watch,  continually  which  keeps  his  stroke ! 

By  whose  oft  turning,  every  hour  doth  slide ; 

Figure  the  sighs,  which  from  my  liver  smoke, 

Whose  oft  invasions  finish  my  life's  date. 

The  Watchman,  which,  each  quarter,  strikes  the  bell! 

Thy  love,  which  doth  each  part  examinate  ; 

And  in  each  quarter,  strikes  his  forces  fell. 

That  Hammer  and  great  Bell,  which  end  each  hourl 

Death,  my  life's  victor,  sent  by  thy  love's  power." 

This  is  copied  exactly  from  Mr.  Lee's  Elizabethan  Sonnets  (vol.  i. 
p.  203).     The  reader  may  disentangle  the  metaphors  if  he  can. 

Mr.  Lee  is  evidently  hard  pushed  to  find  a  creditable  specimen 
of  Barnes's  work.  He  refers  above  to  Sonnet  66,  which  he  also 
praises  twice  in  his  Life  of  Shakespeare  (pp.  132  and  432),  quoting 
it  in  full  the  second  time.     It  is  no  more  than  fair  to  give  it  here  :  — 

"Ah,  sweet  Content!  where  is  thy  mild  abode? 
Is  it  with  Shepherds,  and  light-hearted  Swains, 
Which  sing  upon  the  downs,  and  pipe  abroad, 
Tending  their  flocks  and  cattle  on  the  plains? 
Ah,  sweet  Content !   where  dost  thou  safely  rest? 
In  heaven,  with  angels?  which  the  praises  sing 
Of  Him  that  made,  and  rules  at  His  behest, 
The  minds  and  hearts  of  every  living  thing. 
Ah,  sweet  Content !  where  doth  thy  harbour  hold? 
Is  it  in  churches,  with  Religious  Men, 
Which  please  the  gods  with  prayers  manifold; 
And  in  their  studies  meditate  it  then? 
Whether  thou  dost  in  heaven,  or  earth  appear; 
Be  where  thou  wilt !      Thou  wilt  not  harbour  here!  '' 

With  all  due  deference  to  the  opinion  of  so  eminent  a  critic,  and 
that  of  readers  who  may  agree  with  him  in  reckoning  this  (as   he 


260  Appendix 

does  in  the  Life),  an  "almost  perfect  sonnet,"  reaching  "a  very 
high  level  of  artistic  beauty,"  I  must  confess  that,  though  it  is  free 
from  the  worst  faults  of  metre  and  style  that  characterize  most  of 
Barnes's  poetry,  it  strikes  me  as  crude  and  commonplace.  The  plan 
is  good,  being  like  that  of  Shakespeare's  49th  and  64th  Sonnets, 
but  the  execution  is  clumsy.  The  rhyme  of  abroad  with  abode  is 
bad,  though  the  word  was  evidently  chosen  for  the  rhyme  rather 
than  the  sense  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  thing  below,  with  its  "  minds 
and  hearts."  "On  the  plains,"  following  "upon  the  downs"  (hills 
or  level  ground  on  the  top  of  hills)  is  sheer  metrical  "padding" 
without  regard  to  sense.  The  mixture  of  theologies  in  the  second 
and  third  quatrains  is  in  the  author's  usual  style  ;  but  why  do  the 
polytheistic  "  religious  men  "  pray  to  their  "  gods  "  in  "  churches  ?  " 
And  is  it  content  or  something  else  that  they  "  meditate  then,"  and 
would  they  do  it  then  except  for  the  exigencies  of  rhyme?  And 
wherein  does  the  "artistic  beauty  "  of  the  muddle  consist? 

I  will  add  a  few  more  of  Barnes's  sonnets,  taken  quite  at  random, 
in  further  illustration  of  his  eccentricities :  — 

SONNET   24 

These,  mine  heart-eating  Eyes  do  never  gaze 

Upon  thy  sun's  harmonious  marble  wheels, 

But  from  these  eyes,  through  force  of  thy  sun's  blaze, 

Rain  tears  continual  whiles  my  faith's  true  steels, 

Tempered  on  anvil  of  thy  heart's  cold  Flint, 

Strike  marrow-melting  fire  into  mine  eyes ; 

The  Tinder  whence  my  Passions  do  not  stint 

As  Matches  to  those  sparkles  which  arise. 

Which  when  the  Taper  of  mine  heart  is  lighted, 

Like  salamanders,  nourish  in  the  flame: 

And  all  the  Loves,  with  my  new  Torch  delighted, 

Awhile,  like  gnats,  did  flourish  in  the  same; 

But  burnt  their  wings,  nor  any  way  could  frame 

To  fly  from  thence,  since  Jove's  proud  bird  (that  bears 

His  thunder)  viewed  my  sun;  but  shed  down  tears. 


Appendix  26  t 


SONNET   46 

Ah,  pierce-eye  piercing  eye,  and  blazing  light ! 

Of  thunder,  thunder  blazes  burning  up  ! 

O  sun,  sun  melting!  blind,  and  dazing  night! 

Ah,  heart!  down-driving  heart,  and  turning  up! 

O  matchless  beauty,  Beauty's  beauty  staining! 

Sweet  damask  rosebud  !  Venus'  rose  of  roses ! 

Ah,  front  imperious,  duty's  duty  gaining! 

Yet  threatful  clouds  did  still  inclose  and  closes. 

O  lily  leaves,  when  Juno's  lily's  leaves 

In  wond'ring  at  her  colours'  grain  distained  ! 

Voice  which  rock's  voice  and  mountain's  hilly  cleaves 

In  sunder,  at  my  loves  with  pain  complained! 

Eye,  lightning  sun!     Heart,  beauty's  bane  unfeigned! 

O  damasK  rose!  proud  forehead  !   lily!  voice! 

Ah,  partial  fortune  !  sore  chance  !  silly  choice  ! 

SONNET   49 

Cool !  cool  in  waves,  thy  beams  intolerable, 

O  sun  !     No  son,  but  most  unkind  stepfather! 

By  law,  nor  Nature,  Sire;   but  rebel  rather! 

Fool !  fool !  these  labours  are  inextricable  ; 

A  burden  whose  weight  is  importable ; 

A  Siren  which,  within  thy  breast  doth  bathe  her; 

A  Fiend  which  doth  in  Graces'  garments  grath  her; 

A  fortress,  whose  force  is  impregnable  ; 

From  my  love's  'lembic,  still  'stilled  tears.     O  tears! 

Quench  !  quench  mine  heat !  or,  with  your  sovereignty, 

Like  Niobe,  convert  mine  heart  to  marble  ! 

Or  with  fast-flowing  pine,  my  body  dry, 

And  rid  me  from  Despair's  chilled  fears!     O  fears, 

Which  on  mine  heben  harp's  heartstrings  do  warble ! 

SONNET   50 

So  warble  out  your  tragic  notes  of  sorro\r 
Black  harp  of  liver-piercing  Melancholy! 


262  Appendix 

Black  Humour,  patron  of  my  Fancy's  folly! 

Mere  follies,  which  from  Fancy's  fire,  borrow 

Hot  fire;  which  burns  day,  night,  midnight,  and  morrow. 

Long  morning,  which  prolongs  my  sorrows  solely, 

And  ever  overrules  my  Passions  wholly : 

So  that  my  fortune,  where  it  first  made  sorrow, 

Shall  there  remain,  and  ever  shall  it  plow 

The  bowels  of  mine  heart ;  mine  heart's  hot  bowels ! 

And  in  their  furrows  sow  the  Seeds  of  Love  ; 

Which  thou  didst  sow,  and  newly  spring  up  now 

And  make  me  write  vain  words  :  no  words,  but  vowels ! 

For  nought  in  me,  good  Consonant  would  prove. 

In  many  of  Barnes's  sonnets  words  seem  to  be  introduced  for  the 
rhyme  with  little  or  no  regard  to  the  meaning.  He  also  takes  great 
liberties  in  rhymes:  as  changed,  range ;  throughly,  roughly;  woman, 
come  on ;  see  them,  eye  them  ;  hatred,  wat'red  (twice)  ;  pilot,  my 
late  ;  vassal,  pass  all ;  late,  wrote  ;  pray,  apply,  etc.  New  or  strange 
words  often  occur,  mostly  for  rhyme  ;  as  naffe,  menceless,  searseth, 
wayment,  lesses  (verb),  immurate,  etc.  In  Sonnet  23  we  find  the 
line,  "  Her  heart  whiles  Pitv's  slight  had  undershoved  me  "  (to 
rhyme  with  "  removed  me  ").  The  closing  lines  of  the  same  sonnet 
are :  — 

"  There  rest,  fair  Planets  !     Stay,  bright  orbs  of  day ! 
Still  smiling  at  my  dial,  next  eleven !  " 

Neither  day  nor  eleven  rhymes  with  any  preceding  word,  and  there 
is  nothing  to  explain  the  use  of  eleven,  unless  it  be  the  reference  to 
"  Meridian  heat,"  which  implies  twelve.  But  such  metrical  puzzles 
are  common  in  Barnes's  verse.  In  Sonnet  41  is  the  line,  "Then  to 
mine  eyes  each  Maid  was  made  a  moat"  where  the  peculiar  meta- 
phor is  imperfectly  explained  by  the  preceding  lines  (the  only  other 
reference  to  water  in  the  sonnet)  :  — 

"Then  more  then  blessed  was  I,  if  one  tiding 
Of  female  favour  set  mine  heart  afloat ;" 

but  a  rhyme  for  afloat  was  needed.    In  a  description  of  his  lady  the 
line  occurs,  "  Her  cheeks  thin  speckled  with  a  summer's   male," 


Appendix  263 

where  there  is  nothing  to  explain  male  except  the  necessity  of  a 
rhyme  to  pale  in  "  her  forehead  coloured  pale." 

On  the  whole,  the  critic  who,  as  Mr.  Lee  tells  us,  called  Barnes  "  a 
fool "  appears  to  have  been  a  better  judge  of  his  verse  than  the  one 
who  thought  him  "  a  born  singer."  That  he  should  have  been  a 
"  rival  "  to  Shakespeare  in  the  favour  of  Southampton,  or  the  person 
to  whom  Shakespeare  addressed  his  Sonnets  (whoever  he  may  have 
been),  is  impossible. 

Among  half  a  dozen  sonnets,  addressed  to  noble  lords  and  ladies, 
appended  to  Barnes's  Parthenoph.il  and  Parthenophe  (1593),  there 
is  one  to  Southampton  ;  but  we  have  no  evidence  that  Barnes  ever 
dedicated  a  book  to  him.  The  Parthenophil  and  Parthenophe, 
which  was  published  anonymously,  is  dedicated  on  the  title-page 
"To  the  right  noble  and  virtuous  gentleman,  M.  William  Percy, 
Esq.,  his  dearest  friend."  "The  Printer,"  in  an  introductory 
address  "To  the  Learned  Gentlemen  Readers,"  refers  to  the 
author  as  "  unknown  "  but  "enforced  to  accord  to  certain  of  his 
friends'  importunacy"  that  the  poems  maybe  published.  The  poet 
adds  a  rhymed  preface  which  begins  thus  :  — 

"Go,  bastard  Orphan!   Pack  thee  hence! 

And  seek  some  Stranger  for  defence! 

Now  gins  thy  baseness  to  be  known  ! 

Nor  dare  I  take  thee  for  mine  own. 


Some  good  man,  that  shall  think  thee  witty, 
Will  be  thy  Patron  !  and  take  pity,"  etc. 

T  find  no  record  of  any  second  edition  of  this  book  ;  but  in  1595 
Barnes  published  a  Divine  Cettturie  of  Spirituall  Sonnets,  which 
he  dedicated  to  Toby  Matthew,  bishop  of  Durham.  He  also  wrote 
at  least  one  play,  The  DiviPs  Charter,  a  Tragedie  containing  the 
Life  and  Death  of  Pope  Alexander  the  Sixt,  which  was  performed 
before  King  lames  at  Christmas  1606-1607,  and  in  October,  1607, 
in  which  year  it  was  also  printed.  It  commended  itself  to  the  king 
as  an  attack  on  papal  pretensions  and  on  magic,  but  appears  to 
have  had  no  merit  as  a  drama.     The  author  died  in  1 609. 


INDEX   OF   WORDS   AND    PHRASES 
EXPLAINED 


acceptable  (accent),  145 
accessary,  168 
action  (legal),  186 
adder's  sense,  217 
admire  (  =  wonder  at),  225 
adulterate,  223 
advance  (=  raise),  195 
advised  respects,  176 
aggravate,  244 
air   and   fire    (elements), 

'73 

alchemy  (metaphor),  166, 
218 

all-oblivious,  181 

all  tyrant  (vocative)    246 

allow  (=  approve),  217 

amiss  (noun),  168 

anchored  (metaphor),  238 

antique  (accent),  155,  183, 
212 

antiquity,  214 

applying  fears  to  hop>es, 
222 

approve  (-find  by  experi- 
ence), 244 

April,  144,  207 

aray,  243 

argument  (  =  theme),  170, 
1 95,  211 

array,  243 

art  (=  knowledge),  152 

art  (=  letters),  164,  187, 
'95 

as  (—  that) ,  195 

aspect  (accent),  162 

astonished,  200 

attaint  (-blame).  to6 

attainted,  202 

attend  time's  leisure,  174 

authorizing  (accent),  167 

ay  me  !    172 

bankrupt  (spelling),  188 

bareness,  145 

base  (      bad),  204,  206 

bastard,  188 

bated,  185 


bath  (=  Bath?1),  249 

beard  (of  grain),  150 

beauty  held  in  lease,  150 

beauty's  effect,  146 

becoming  of,  231,  246 

bed-vow,  247 

begetter,  142 

bereft  (=  taken  away),  146 

beshrew,  235 

besides  (preposition),  158 

best  endowed,  149 

best  of  dearest,  176 

bestow  (=  stow),  162 

bevel,  224 

bewailed  guilt,  169 

beweep,  164 

bide  each  check,  182 

black  not  counted  fair,  231 

blenches  (noun),  215 

blunt  (=  clumsy),  211 

books,  159 

bore  the  canopy,  226 

both  twain,  172 

bower,  231 

brave  (=beautiful) ,  149 

bravery,  167 

breathers   of   this   world, 

196 
breed  (=  offspring),  150 
brows  (=  eyebrows),  231 
builded,  225 
burns,  242 

came  (=  became),  235 
candles  (=  stars),  157 
canker     (=  worm),     167, 

189,  205 
canker-blooms,  180 
canopy  (verb) ,  150 
captain  (adjective),  178 
carcanet,  178 
censures  (=  judges),  245 
ceremony  (metre),  159 
charge  (noun) ,  244 
charged  (      attacked),  190 
cheater,  246 
check  i  -    rebuff),  182 

265 


cheer  (=face),  206 

cherubins,  218 

chest  (metaphor),  187 

chide  with,  216 

chopped, 185 

chronicle,  212 

clean  (adverb),  192 

closure  of  my  breast,  176 

comment,  212 

compare  (noun),  157,  168 

compile  (  =  compose),  195, 

198 
composed  wonder,  183 
compounded    witb    clay, 

190 
conceit  (=  idea),  152,  162 
condemned  for  thy  hand, 

208 
confined  (accent),  213 
confound  (=destroy),  145, 

147,  184,  185 
consecrate,  192 
constant  heart,  178 
contain  (=  retain),  194 
content  (=  happiness),  222 
contents  (noun),  181 
contracted,  142 
converted     (=  changed), 

,76 
converted  (=  turned 

away),  146 
convertest   (rhyme),  149, 

152 
copy  (=  offspring),  149 
correct  correction,  216 
cost     (=  thing     bought), 

186 
count  (-account),  143 
counterfeit     (=  portrait), 

'53.   "79 
counterfeit      (=    rhyme), 

179 
couplement,  157 
courses  (~  years),  183 
coward        conquest         of 

wretch's   knife,    192 
critic  (—  carper)  ,217 


266         Index  of  Words  and   Phrases 


crooked  (=malignant)  ,184 
cunning  (=  skill),  160 
curious  (=fastidious),  170 

damasked,  233 
darkening,  209 
darkly  bright,  173 
date  (=  time),  170 
dateless  (=  endless),  165, 

249 
days  are  nights,  173 
days  outworn,  153 
dead  seeing,  188 
dear  religious  love,  165 
dear  time's  waste,  165 
dearest  (=most  intense), 

170 
death's  second  self,  191 
debate  (=  contend),  152 
debate  (=  contest) ,  202 
dedicated  words,  197 
defeat  (=  destroy),  184 
defeated     (=  defrauded), 

157 
delves  the  parallels,  184 
desert  (rhyme),  154,  T76, 

determinate,  200 
determination  (=end),  150 
devour  (=  destroy),  155 
disabled  (quadrisyllable), 

187 
discloses  (= uncloses) ,  180 
dispense  with,  217 
disperse  (=  publish),  195 
distillation     (=  perfume), 

.'45. 
divining  eyes,  212 
double-vantage,  202 
doubting  (=  fearing),  192 
dressings,  225 
drooping  (=  drowsy),  163 
dulling  my  lines,  211 
dullness    (=  drowsiness), 

182 
dwellers  on  form,  226 

eager  (=  tart),  221 
ear  (=  plough),  144 
earth     and     water     (ele- 
ments), 173 
edge  of  doom,  221 
eisel,  216 

elements  (four),  173 
enlarged  (=  set  free),  190 
enlighten,  247 


entitled  in  thy  parts,  170 
envy  (accent),  231 
ever-fixed  mark,  218 
evermore  (adjective),  245 
except  (=  refust),  244 
exchange, 215 
expense  (=  expenditure), 

204,  233 
expense  (=  loss),  165 
expiate    (=  bring    to    an 

end),  158 
extern,  226 
eye  of  heaven,  154 

fair  (=  beauty),  154,  188, 

,   J97. 

false  in  rolling  (eyes) ,  156 

fame  (verb),  198 

famished  for  a  look,  175 

false  plague,  238 

favour    (=  countenance), 

218,  227 
fell  arrest,  191 
fester  (=  rot),  205 
fickle  hour,  229 
filed,  198 

filled  up  his  line,  201 
fitted,  222 
five  wits,  240 
flatter,  166 

fleets  (=  fleetest),  155 
flourish  (noun),  184 
foison,  179 
fond  (=  foolish),  144 
fond  on,  198 
fools  of  time,  226 
for  (=  because),  171,  212 
for  (=  for  fear  of),  178 
for  fear  of  trust,  159 
fore,  146 

forlorn  (accent),  166 
forsworn,  202 
fortify  (intransitive),  143 
frame  (=  adapt),  221 
free  (=  liberal),  145 
frequent  (=  intimate), 221 
from  (=  away  from) ,  243 
fulfil,  237 
fury  (=  inspiration),  209 

gaudy  (=gay),  143 
gaze  (= object  of  gaze),  1 45 
general  of  hot  desire,  249 
gentle,  205 
give  it  light,  170 
give  salutation,  223 


go  (=walk),  177 

gored  mine  own  thoughts, 

215 
gracious  (=  full  of  grace), 

184 
gracious  (trisyllable),  236 
greeing,  219 
grind  (=  whet),  216 
groan,  234 
grow  (=be),  ig7 
gust  (=  taste),  219 

habit  (=  bearing),  239 
hands  of  falsehood,  175 
happies,  146 
heaven's  gate,  164 
heavy  ignorance,  195 
heavy  Saturn,  207 
heavy  tears,  174 
height  (of  star),  220 
Helen's  cheek,  179 
hell  of  time,  222 
his  (=  its) ,  148,  152,  192, 

198 
hope  of  orphans,  206 
horse  (plural),  203 
hours  (dissyllable),  145 
house  (=  family),  151 
hue  (=  shape),  151 
hues  (=  Hughes?),  156 
hugely  politic,  226 
hungry  ocean,  186 
husbandry,  151 

I  hate  from  hate  away  she 
threw,  243 

idle  rank,  224 

ill-wresting,  240 

imaginary  (=  imagina- 
tive), 163 

imprisoned  absence  of 
your  liberty,  182 

in  their  wills,  223 

incertainties,  213 

indigest,  218 

influence,  195 

inhearse,  200 

instinct  (accent),  177 

insults  o'er,  214 

intend,  163 

interest  (=  right),  165 

invention  (=  imagina 
tion) ,  170,  193 

jacks,  175 

just  to  the  time,  215 


Index  of  Words  and  Phrases 


267 


keeps  (=  guards) ,  235 
key  (pronunciation),  178 
kindness  (= affection), 247 
king  (=  possessor),  185 

lace  (=  embellish),  188 
lame  (figurative?),  169, 202 
latch  (=  catch),  218 
lay  (=  lay  on),  210 
learned's  wing,  195 
leaves  out  difference,  21 1 
leese,  146 

level  (=aim),  221,  223 
liberty  (=  license),  172 
like  as,  183,  221 
like  of  hearsay,  157 
limbecks,  222 
lines  of  life,  153 
live  (=  subsist),  145 
live  twice,  154 
lively  (  =  living),  249 
lovely  argument,  195 
lover  (masculine),  166 
love's  fresh  case,  214 
lower  (=  frown),  246 

maiden  gardens,  153 
main  of  light,  183 
make  faults,  169 
makeless,  147 
makest  waste  in  niggard- 

inR.  143 
many's  looks,  203 
map  of  days  outworn,  188 
marigold,  161 
marjoram,  208 
married  (metaphor) ,  147 
Mars  his  sword,  181 
master  (=  possess),  212 
master-mistress,  156 
meetness,  221 
melancholy  (metre),  174 
merchandized,  210 
minion  (=  darling),  230 
misprision,  201 
mixed  with  seconds,  227 
moan  the  expense,  165 
mock  their  own  presage, 

213 
modern  (»  ordinary) ,  197 
moiety,  174 
more  and  Tess,  205 
mortal  (=  deadly),  186 
mother's  glass,  thy,  144 
motley  (  —  jcstcr\  71s 
mourning  (play  upon)  ,234 


mouthed  graves,  194 
music     (personal),     147, 

231 
music  to  hear,  147 
mutual  render,  229 
my  next  self,  235 

nativity  (=  child),  183 
Nature's  bequest,  144 
new-fangled,  203 
new  pride,  193 
niggard  truth,  191 
no  such  matter,  201 
noted  weed,  193 

obsequious    (=  devoted) , 

227 
obsequious    (=  funereal), 

165 
o'er-green  (verb),  216 
o'erlook  (=  peruse),  196 
on  another's  neck,  234 
one  reckoned  none,  237 
out-going.  147 
owe  (=  possess),  190 

pace  forth,  181 
pain  (=  punishment) ,  240 
painful  (=  toilsome),  161 
part  his  function,  218 
partake  (=  take  part),  245 
parts  of  me,  165 
pass  (=  result),  211 
past  cure,  past  care,  245 
patent,  201 
peace  of  you,  192 
perfect'st,  177 
perfumed  tincture,  180 
perspective,  159 
phrcnix,  155 
pitiful  thrivers,  227 
pointing    (=  appointing), 

policy,  that  heretic,  226 

posting,  177 

poverty    (concrete),    171, 

211 
prayers  divine,  214 
predict  (noun),  152 
present  (--=■  instant),  246 
pressed     by    these     rebel 

powers,  etc.,  243 
pretty,  172 
prevent       (=  anticipate), 

209 
pricked  (=  marked),  157 


pride,  246 

prime  (=  spring) ,  ao6 

private,  148 

prizing  (=  regarding),  241 

profitless  usurer,  145 

prophetic  soul,  213 

proud  full  sail,  199 

proud  pied  April,  207 

prove  (=  find) ,  190,  249 

pupil  pen,  154 

purge,  221 

purple  (=  red),  208 

pursuit  (accent),  241 

qualify  (=  temper),  214 
quest  (=  inquest),  174 
question  make,  150 
quick,  218 
quietus,  230 

rack  (=  clouds),  167 

rage  (=  destructive  pow- 
er) ,  186 

rage  (poet's),  154 

ragged  (=  rugged),  148 

ranged,  215 

rank  (=  foul),  224 

rank  (=  sick),  221 

read  such  art,  152 

rearward,  203 

receipt.  237 

record  (accent),  183,  225 

recured,  174 

reek,  233 

reeleth  (of  the  sun),  146 

region  (=  air),  167 

remembered  (=  remind- 
ed), 223 

render  (noun) ,  229 

render  (—  surrender),  230 

renewed,  216 

reserve   (=  preserve),  166 

reserve  their  character, 
198 

respect   (=  affection) ,  168 

respect  (—  consideration), 
162 

resty,  209 

retention,  224 

revolt      (—  faithlessness), 

riches  (singular),  201 
rondure.  157 
roses  of  shadow,  188 
rotten  smoke,  167 
ruinate,  148 


268 


Index  of  Words  and   Phrases 


ruined  choirs,  191 
ruth  (=pity),  234 

salve  (=  apology),  223 
satire  (=  satirist),  209 
scarlet  ornaments,  240 
sealed  false  bonds  of  love, 

241 
seat,  172 

seconds  (=  flour),  227 
self-substantial  fuel,  142 
sense  (plural),  160,  203 
sense  (=  reason),  168 
sensual  feast,  240 
separable  spite,  168 
sessions  of  thought,  165 
set  a  form  upon,  202 
set  me  light,  201 
several  plot,  238 
shadow(=image),  163, 170 
shady  stealth.  194 
she  (=  woman),  234 
simplicity  (=  folly),  187 
Siren  tears,  222 
slandering  creation,  231 
so  (=  thus),  198 
soil  (=  solution) ,  189 
soundless,  196 
spacious  (trisyllable),  236 
special  (adverb)  ,.178 
spirit  (monosyll.il»le,)i96 
sport  (=  sensuality),  205 
sportive  (=  amorous),  223 
stage  (allusion  to),  152 
stain  (intransitive),  167 
stand  (play  upon),  247 
stand   against   thy  sight, 

170 
star  (astrological),  162 
state  (noun),  206,  225 
statute,  235 

steal  from  his  figure,  211 
steep-up,  146 
steepy  night.  185 
stelled.  159 
stewards,  204 
stick  (=  hesitate),  148 
store    (noun),     149,     152, 

188,  198 
strained  (=overwrought) , 

197 
strange  (=  stranger),  179 
strangely,  215 
strangle     (acquaintance), 

202 
stretched  metre,  154 


suborned  informer.  229 
subscribe  (=  yield),  214 
successive,  231 
sufferance    (=  suffering), 

182 
suggest  (=  tempt),  242 
suited  (=  clad),  231 
suit  thy  pity  like,  234 
sum  my  count,  143 
summer  (of  life),  186 
summer's  front,  210 
summer's  story,  207 
supposed  as  forfeit   213 
surly,  sullen  bell,  190 
suspect  (noun),  189 
swart-complexioned,  163 
sweet  seasoned,  192 
sweet  thief,  168 
swift  extremity.  177 
sympathized,  197 

table  (=  tablet),  159 
tables  (=  note-book),  224 
tallies   (noun) ,  224 
tame  to  sufferance,  182 
tasters,  168 
teeming  autumn,  206 
tell  (=  count),  165 
terms  (legal),  244 
that  (=  so  that),  193,  207 
thorns,  standing  on,  209 
thou  (in  the  Sonnets),  150 
thought    (=  melancholy), 

171.  173 
thrall  (=  bondman).  249 
thriftless  (^unprofitable), 

.  '43 

tie  up  envy,  190 
time  (=  the  world),  221 
time  removed,  206 
Time's  chest,  187 
Time's  fool,  220 
time's  pencil,  153 
times  (=generations),  149 
times  in  hope,  184 
tires  (=head-dresses),  179 
to  time  thou  growest,  155 
tongue-tied,  239 
took  (=  taken),  175,  193 
top  of  happy  hours,  153 
tottered  (^tattered),  143, 

162 
tract  (  —  track) ,  147 
translate      (=  transform), 

206 
travail  (spelling),  195 


triumphant  prize,  146 
truth  (=duty),  172 
twire,  163 
tyrants,  145 

uneared,  144 
unfair  (verb),  145 
unkind  (noun?),  177 
unknown  minds,  221 
unlettered,  198 
unlooked  for,  160 
unperfect,  158 
unrespected,  173,  180 
unthnft,  148,  151 
untrimmed,  155 
untrue  (adverb),  191 
use  (=  interest^,  146,  235 
user  (=  possessor),  131 

vade,  180 

vaunt  (=  exult),  152 

vild.  190 

violet  past  prime,  149 

virginal.  232 

virtuous  lie,  190 

warrantise  of  skill,  248 
wastes  of  Time,  150 
weed  (=  dress),  143 
well-contented,  166 
whenas,  176 

where  (=  to  where),  173 
where  through,  160 
whether    (monosyllable), 

183 
wight,  212 
Will     (play    upon),    182, 

235,  241 
windows  of  age.  144 
wink    (=  shut    the  eyes), 


painted,   155 
without  all,  188,  192 
wives  (=  hairs).  233 
wooed  of  time,  189 
work  my  mind,  163 
world's  due.  143 
world-without-end,  182 
worth      (=  stellar      influ- 
ence), 219 
wound  with  thine  eye,  239 
wrack    (rhyme),  230 
wracked,  196 
wrackful,  186 
write  for  me,  235 


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ORI 

to/ 


MAP  0  8  198° 


^29»«,* 


ACIUTV 


